MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Martin County's Fire Rescue officials are advising residents to stay indoors Tuesday night as winds throughout the county are expected to hit 20 to 30 miles per hour.
It is expected to be a level one storm, meaning the risk of severe weather arriving in the area is unlikely, but with strong winds, tree branches could fall and cause damage to homes and vehicles.
Storms and bad weather are nothing new to Martin County residents.
"Last April, we had flooding throughout the county, and we responded and had pumps in place, and our public works team was clearing roads and clearing drainages," Sally Waite, the emergency management director, said.
The floods caused damage to countless homes, roads and vehicles.
Storms sent a tree down onto live power lines in the Sunny Acre community in Jensen Beach.
Now, fast forward to not even a year later. The county prepares for winds expected to hit a high of 30 mph.
Kenneth Holliday, a long-time Martin County resident, said last year's flood and heavy winds taught him a valuable lesson about not preparing for storm conditions.
"Down here, you must ensure you have the coconuts cut out of your tree because they will hurt you," he said. "At the time I didn't have all of them cut out there. So I did have have a little deck damage from coconut falls."
Holliday said he has four coconut trees in front of his home and is still working on the repairs from the damages, but admits he's glad he wasn't hit with one of the heavy coconuts.
"They say coconuts cause more deaths in Florida than shark bites," he said.
Waite said while the county is not expecting any heavy storms or hurricanes, this year they have crews out ready to help residents with any problems that they may run across.
"We are being proactive and we have our public works team out right now clearing drain storms," she said.
Fire rescue advises everyone to make sure you have emergency exit plans and food sources as a backup just in case you ever run into any emergencies.
