An estimated 950,000 residents would be affected by Hurricane Charley’s projected landfall near Fort Myers, Fla., the U.S. Census Bureau said today. The projected landfall near Charlotte Harbor (about 26 miles north of Ft. Myers) released by the National Hurricane Center at 2:00 p.m. EDT encompasses the four counties of Charlotte, DeSoto, Lee and Sarasota.

The 30-mile radius around the projected landfall point includes an area of about 2,700 square miles. The population of 950,000 residents within the landfall area includes 270,000 people 65 years old and over, and about 169,000 children under 18.

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Note: The above calculations are based on projections of the storm’s path from the National Hurricane Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service, Census 2000 counts contained in LandView 6, a mapping software program, and Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2003. These data do not present a full picture of the seasonal population increases of coastal or other tourist areas.