The Nation - News from June 1, 1988

A study has found that the U.S. death toll from a major hurricane could be far worse than previously predicted, the head of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., said to mark the opening of the 1988 Atlantic storm season. Recently completed hurricane coastal flood models for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts show that many more people than earlier thought must be evacuated under certain conditions, said center director Bob Sheets. Forty-three million people live in about 175 coastal counties from Maine to Texas, and evacuating urban areas and barrier islands is virtually impossible, Sheets said. There are not enough shelters to handle the load and there are concerns on how glass-windowed high-rises would fare if lashed by hurricane-force winds, he said.