tried to return home prematurely. The threat of Hurricane Elena also triggered an unprecedented mass transfer of medical and nursing home patients. Tampa General Hospital, at 84% of patient capacity, was evacuated; four more hospitals and around 19 nursing homes in Pinellas County were also cleared. Overall, nearly 2,000 nursing home patients were transported to safety. Although successful, the process encountered issues such as time constraints and staffing shortages. Late on September 1, when the storm began to retrograde, hurricane warnings were reinstated westward along the coast to Grand Isle, Louisiana, as advisories along the west coast of the Florida Peninsula were allowed to expire. By the time officials lifted evacuation orders, the number of evacuees staying in shelters already decreased significantly due to the rampant eagerness and anxiety. Roughly 250,000 people in the Florida Panhandle, 175,000 in Alabama, 70,000 in Mississippi, and 50,000 in Louisiana—a total of 545,000—were ordered to leave. Several hundred thousand of the people affected by the new string of evacuation orders had also been forced to leave just days earlier, and in extreme cases had one day or less reprieve. Governor Graham's office reported that during the entire storm event, 1.25 million people from Florida evacuated at some point, and state police in Louisiana estimated that figure in their state to be around 400,000. In total, nearly 2 million people fled the storm over its entire course. Impact According to the Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Elena produced Category 3 winds ( or greater) in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The American Red Cross reported that in addition to the hundreds of single-family homes demolished by the hurricane, over 17,000 sustained some degree of damage; thousands of mobile homes, apartments, and condominiums were also damaged or destroyed. A forecaster at the National Hurricane Center determined the worst of the hurricane's effects were focused around Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Pascagoula, Mississippi, though noteworthy damage occurred across large areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, with effects documented as far west as South Padre Island, Texas, and as far north as Kentucky. Nine deaths were attributed to the hurricane in four states and on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and 134 people along Elena's path were hospitalized, many of them due to storm-related stress. Power outages plagued the entire region, affecting about 550,000 customers. The National Climatic Data Center compiled