Based on today’s projected path of Hurricane Alex, that has the center of the storm passing near North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated that about 187,000 residents, not including tourists, could be affected by the strengthening storm’s hurricane and tropical force winds.

     A hurricane warning was issued for North Carolina’s coastal area, from Cape Lookout, N.C., to Oregon Inlet, N.C. (about 44 miles north of Cape Hatteras). A tropical storm warning was in effect from north of Oregon Inlet to the North Carolina/Virginia border, including the Albemarle Sound. A tropical storm warning is also in effect from Surf City to Cape Lookout.

     An analysis of demographic data for the area in the projected path of the storm — about 2,200 square miles along the Outer Banks and 20 miles inland — shows that in the four counties for which data were compiled (Currituck, Craven, Dare and Hyde counties), there were about 27,500 people 65 years old and over. This population includes 42,000 children under 18.

     The following is a demographic profile of the possibly affected area, but does not include seasonal Outer Banks tourist populations:

     Hurricane Alex is the first hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic season, and also the first tropical system to threaten the U.S. mainland this year. According to measurements taken by the National Hurricane Center at 11:00 a.m. EDT, Alex packed maximum sustained winds of near 100 miles per hour. The center of the storm is expected to pass very near the Outer Banks, and a motion toward the northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected during the next 24 hours.

Note: These calculations were made possible by projections of the storm’s path by the National Hurricane Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service, combined with Census 2000 counts contained in LandView 6, a mapping software program. These data do not present a full picture of the seasonal population increases of coastal or other tourist areas during hurricane season.