WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- About 2.1 million residents might be affected when tropical storm Bonnie makes its landfall in the Florida Panhandle Thursday morning.
The storm warning area stretched Wednesday evening from the Alabama-Florida border eastward to the mouth of the Suwannee River, north of Cedar Key, Fla.
The storm was expected to make landfall near Panama City, as forecast by the National Hurricane Center.
An analysis of demographic data for the area in the storm's projected path by the U.S> Census Bureau showed about 28,845 square miles along the coast and 70 miles inland would be affected.
Among those who could be affected, there are an estimated 273,000 people 65 years old or over and 514,000 children under 18.
Bonnie is the second tropical storm of the 2004 Atlantic Season, and the first to threaten the Gulf of Mexico coast this year.
