document: 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 said Tuesday 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 crowded urban areas and barrier islands is virtually impossible , Sheets said . There are not enough shelters to handle the added load and there are serious concerns how new glass-windowed high-rises would fare if lashed by hurricane-force winds during evacuations , he said . During a hurricane that struck Houston , `` glass was flying everywhere , '' said Sheets . He refused to make predictions about the 1988 hurricane season , saying no one has convinced forecasters they can reliably predict the number and severity of storms . The first tropical depression of the year has formed , and remained stationary Tuesday night just south of the western tip of Cuba , or about 200 miles southwest of Havana . The system contained winds of up to 30 mph and was not expected to strengthen . One of the two satellites used to keep track of hurricanes could fail this year , forecasters said . `` It 's quite possible this year that we could lose GOES-West at anytime , '' hurricane specialist Bob Case said of the Geo-Stationary Earth-Orbiting Environmental Satellite , which records atmospheric conditions over the Pacific Ocean and part of the Western Hemisphere . If that satellite does stop working , GOES-East would have to be directed to move from its equatorial orbit over Brazil to a spot south of the Texas Gulf Coast , where it would provide a view of the Western Hemisphere with limited vision in the hurricane-spawning eastern Atlantic , he said . A previous GOES-East expired in 1984 and temporarily deprived meteorologists of Atlantic atmospheric photographs . A typical Atlantic hurricane season , from June 1 to Nov. 30 , has 10 named tropical storms with rain and maximum sustained wind exceeding 39 mph , six of which become hurricanes with drenching rain and wind over 74 mph , Case said . In 1987 there were only three hurricanes and four tropical storms in the Atlantic . Hurricane Emily slammed into the Dominican Republic on Sept. 22 , causing three deaths with wind gusts up to 110 mph . It recovered enough punch to belt Bermuda with 116 mph wind three days later . `` Emily was the fastest moving hurricane of any known in this century , '' Case said . Hurricane Arlene meandered through the Atlantic in mid-August with top wind of 75 mph . Hurricane Floyd hit Key West with 75 mph wind but fizzled out over the Everglades and Miami in mid-October . Here are the names to be given to Atlantic tropical storms that could grow into hurricanes this season : Alberto , Beryl , Chris , Debby , Ernesto , Florence , Gilbert , Helene , Isaac , Joan , Keith , Leslie , Michael , Nadine , Oscar , Patty , Rafael , Sandy , Tony , Valerie and William .
extractive_keyphrases: hurricanes national hurricane center atlantic storm season typical atlantic hurricane season hurricane coastal flood models coastal counties first tropical depression forecasters
abstractive_keyphrases: u.s. death toll hurricane-force winds goes-west