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Lower Atlantic: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina

ble state. They included 35 major hur- ricanes. A storm in 1928 killed almost 2,000 people. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 caused $23 billion in damage. History Evidence from burial mounds suggests that Indians inhabited Florida at least 10,000 years ago. Members of differ- ent tribes were hunters, farmers, and fishers. The Atlantic Coast of what is now

(–19°C), occurred in 1899. An “extreme weather event” occurred on January 19, 1977, when snow fell on Miami Beach. Hurricanes are an annual worry for Floridians. According to the National Hurricane Center, more hurricanes have struck Florida than any other East Coast or Gulf Coast state. Since 1851, Florida has been hit by more than 400 storms—almost twice as many as Texas, the next most vulnera-

The Tampa Bay area, which includes the cities of Tampa (pictured), St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, is home to more than 2.9 million people.