Palm wind tolerance to Hurricane Ian 2022

[Looking Glass]

Anyone in the path of hurricane Ian care to report their observations about hurricane tolerance of various palms, and the wind speed they had?   I’m always curious about how various palms hold up.  

It’s been observed in the past, that P roebelenii and Sabals hold up very well, Coconuts (except Malayan dwarfs) and Royals hold up well, and Queens and Washingtonia hold up poorly.  

Anyone care to report on other palms in their neighborhoods?  Maybe rarer stuff?  I’m curious about Bismarcks, Alfredii, big Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus (Pembana snaps in half), Satakenia (good), and Copernicia (can topple), among others.   

I’m curious about Cat 3+ survival/ damage, and perhaps also damage that’s seen in the mere tropical storm force winds, that are relatively common around here.  Palms would be expected to hold up to Cat 1 winds well, unless they have poor wind tolerance.  

Hopefully someone will publish a survey at some point.  
https://pamela-crawford.com/wind-tolerance-trees-palm-beach-landscape/

[NickJames]

~80mph Deltona, FL

livistona Rigida after I cut out all the foliage that had completely snapped or split

[NickJames]

Just now, NickJames said:

 

Livistona nitida performed better. 
 

my relatively new queens - 9 months in ground maybe? - took no foliage damage. Also didn’t move at all despite being submerged in water. 

[NickJames]

Overall, I think l. Rigida performed very poorly compared to other Livistona I see around here. Was kind of shocked actually at how much it was battered. Assuming it’ll recover but going to be really ugly for a bit. 

[Looking Glass]

2 hours ago, NickJames said:

Overall, I think l. Rigida performed very poorly compared to other Livistona I see around here. Was kind of shocked actually at how much it was battered. Assuming it’ll recover but going to be really ugly for a bit. 

Shed some fronds….  Not an uncommon defense mechanism.   They’ll grow back.  I think the jury is kind of out with various Livistona.  Their durability may be age/hight dependent.  Some species do well when small, but when they get very tall, they snap.   I think that’s the problem with Washingtonia.  

Sorry about the flooding.  I hope your clean up and repairs go well….   Ugh, life in Florida sometimes...  Wishing you well.  Hoping to hear something from @PalmatierMegand @sonoranfans and others at ground zero at some point, about their well-being….  Screw the palms at that point.  They can be replanted.  I think about Meg holding tight, and worry.  

Edited October 1, 2022 by Looking Glass

[ahosey01]

On 9/30/2022 at 5:11 PM, NickJames said:

Overall, I think l. Rigida performed very poorly compared to other Livistona I see around here. Was kind of shocked actually at how much it was battered. Assuming it’ll recover but going to be really ugly for a bit. 

Can you get out to check out the pine island property and see what happened there?  Or are bridges etc closed?

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Orlando. 35-40 sustained and 60-70 gusts for 6-8 hrs. 

Coconut: 2 fronds snapped

Beccariophoenix alreddi: completely pushed over

Adonidia merrillii: 4 fronds snapped

Foxtail: 1 frond snapped

Pygmy: no damage 

Bottle palm. no damage

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by pj_orlando_z9b

[Looking Glass]

55 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Orlando. 35-40 sustained and 60-70 gusts for 6-8 hrs. 

Coconut: 2 fronds snapped

Beccariophoenix alreddi: completely pushed over

Adonidia merrillii: 4 fronds snapped

Foxtail: 1 frond snapped

Pygmy: no damage 

Bottle palm. no damage

Man, those young Alfredii seem to tolerate strong winds poorly.  They are so wobbly sometimes.   We only had winds in the 40s, maybe 50s gusts.   My little ground Alfredii did OK, but it’s still quite small.   My bigger Fenestralis, with those giant sail fronds, was in a sheltered area beside a fence… still 30 degree lean.   Maybe they handle wind better once they are trunking, but when young….  Not so great.  

The one I put in the ground was the strongest rooted of the 4 potted specimens I had.  I planted it just a hair deep also.  Time will tell if that helps.  

[Barry]

10 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Can you get out to check out the pine island property and see what happened there?  Or are bridges etc closed?

No access to Pine Island, Pine Island road in Matlacha is wiped out in multiple places, along with most buildings in Matlacha. They were evacuating all residents today by boat or air. Not a good situation!

[Tropicdoc]

 

Here’s a video of my first glimpse of my yard after hurricane Ida 

not sure of wind speed but the eye passed really close to my house so at least 100 mph sustained 

[Tropicdoc]

red pin is my house

[NickJames]

14 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Can you get out to check out the pine island property and see what happened there?  Or are bridges etc closed?

@Barryanswered. There is currently no road access. 

following passage of the hurricane, as conditions were worsening in deltona, I managed to get a single shot off my camera on my Property so it appears the pine tree it was mounted to didn’t fall. Unfortunately, the camera no longer can be found in the t mobile network since the towers are down. However, these is an SD card inside the camera that would’ve recorded things potentially. 

[sonoranfans]

Not sure what wind max was but it was gusting pretty good, possibly over 100mph max since I saw a 97 mph gust in bradenton on the news which was further west from the eye to the east.  Map says it was cat 2, but gusts were much higher than sustained wind which may have been just a cat 1.  Our area has dozens of big oaks that are leaning to a scary extent or knocked over completely.  Its far worse(5x?) than IRMA by that measure.  In our development, dozens of 25-35' chinese elm are leaning with exposed roots and perhaps a half dozen oaks that are 25'-60' tall are looking like they need to be removed or have fallen over.  The stunted shorter oaks(less than 25') took much less damage, only one was knocked over  The height of a palm was important to damage in my yard.  All damage was leaf stem(petiole) snapping or roughing damage to leaves.  The clear winner and one of the tallest (3rd) and most exposed on the windward side was sabal causiarum which didn't lose a single leaf but had 10( of 20) lay down 20-30 degrees from petiole bending stress fractures.   The wind came from the north(front yard, street) and the windward side of my most exposed palms(bismarckia. copernicia bailey, copernicia fallaensis) showed the most leaf fracture or snapping damage.  Sabal uresana(15-18') snugged near the 30' bizzie showed minimal damage.  My two royals, the tallest trees in my yard(35-45'?), lost 7-8 leaves each, snapped at the crown on the windward side only.  My Beccariophoenix alfredii did not lose any leaves but crowns were splayed out and newest spears were "worked open" to yellowish leaves.  My most exposed palm on the windward side, copernicia fallaensis out alone near the street.   With a 28-30" thick smooth trunk, it had extensive leaf wind damage on the windward side, but no way a palm with that extensive root system at ~22' tall or so is falling down without more wind than we saw.  Caribbean palms evolved in a hurricane climates so that higher wind resistance to toppling(death) is expected.  Again, taller palms were hit harder and the loss of leaves/leaflets is self protective, it prevents palms from getting knocked down.  I cannot determine the worst palm in susceptibility to wind damage since nothing tilted and shorter palms were protected from the highest winds.  My royals lost the most leaves, but they are going to come roaring back based on past IRMA damage(not nearly as extensive as Ian).  I will offer two hypothesis which I think are likely true and are consistent with my observations:  

1) the most exposed palms, either taller than others and/or hanging out there as singles in open grassy areas take a much worse beating than grouped palms which help each other with windbreak around them and that especially includes the house blocking winds from the windward direction on small palms that do not rise much above the roof.   I had 25 5-15 gal container palms at ground level near the house (or stuffed into the base of groups of palms/bushes) with no damage at all, some were knocked over but no damage. 

2) the strength of many root systems depends on the nature of your dry cycle, how deep and extensive does it cycle between dry and wet?  If you water too frequently, weak roots can allow your alfredii to topple since they have a massive "sail" of up to 15-20 big leaves.  If you don't water enough the same root stunting can happen, though less likely in florida.  Ive seen bismarckia 25' tall (in rocky wet soil in miami) that I could push on the trunk and the crown would move.  Putting palms out in the grass as singles should be considered carefully, wet lovers will perhaps be ok, but say a bismarckia or alfredii from the high plains of madagascar -which as a wet and a dry season- can have stunted roots from too frequent watering and get more easily knocked down.  All my wet loving archies and chambys were on the leeward side of the house so they just didnt get hammered.  A neighbors sabal palmetto with 10' clear trunk that was planted out front on the windward side alone by itself and 15' away from the corner of the house, was snapped at the trunk 5' above the ground.  It saw the same winds that my copernicia fallaensis, causiarum and bismarckia saw.   Those three with trunks from 28" to 40" are unlikely to snap as soon as a sabal palmetto I guess.  None of my three alfredii are planted in grass, all have top mulch and turface MVP dressing and I shut down my irrigation system when the rain comes for days/weeks at a time in summer.  My goal has always been deeper more extensive root systems as they lead to bigger more robust palms.  I have found sabal causiarum roots near 1/4" thick 30' away from my big sabal.  If a palm is taller and has a huge crown it will need much more strength in the roots to withstand getting knocked down.  Spindles, foxtails have small crowns so they are not expected to get knocked down and they didnt in my area.  My most exposed alfredii had no leaves snapped and zero tilt, it just opened up the crown a bit.   One last comment:  There is always a period of time say 5-7 years or so where the roots are strengthening so they will not be at full strength before that and might get toppled if the crown has lots of leaves that catch wind like a sail(alfredii).  WIth an Ian type storm it makes sense to thin the crown of a young alfredii and/or wrap up the crown before it hits.  Better to have leaf loss than root damage.   It will take a couple summers for all my palms to recover I think, but NOTHING was knocked down and had the roots damaged.  Planting density matters and while my yard isnt much "over planted" out front by conventional "cookie cutter real estate landscaping designs" terms, the back yard has a good planting density with ~30 palms 15' -45' in about 3000 square foot area.  My two 15' satakentias were nestled in this area and had zero damage, as did my similarly sized chambeyronia macrocarpa which was shielded on the leeward side of the house at its 15' height.  I have a livistona chinensis with 4 trunks, no visible damage and it should have seen some wind, though its only 15-18' tall.  This palm could have been protected some by taller palms in the area(alfredii, royals) that slowed the wind a little.  All in all I consider myself lucky, no house damage or injuries and in 3 years the damage from Ian should be a memory.  I was impressed by the damage Ian did to non palms, those elms don't belong here and those oaks evolved as forests not singles out in the open.  

[Looking Glass]

16 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Not sure what wind max was but it was gusting pretty good, possibly over 100mph max since I saw a 97 mph gust in bradenton on the news which was further west from the eye to the east.  Map says it was cat 2, but gusts were much higher than sustained wind which may have been just a cat 1.  Our area has dozens of big oaks that are leaning to a scary extent or knocked over completely.  Its far worse(5x?) than IRMA by that measure.  In our development, dozens of 25-35' chinese elm are leaning with exposed roots and perhaps a half dozen oaks that are 25'-60' tall are looking like they need to be removed or have fallen over.  The stunted shorter oaks(less than 25') took much less damage, only one was knocked over  The height of a palm was important to damage in my yard.  All damage was leaf stem(petiole) snapping or roughing damage to leaves.  The clear winner and one of the tallest (3rd) and most exposed on the windward side was sabal causiarum which didn't lose a single leaf but had 10( of 20) lay down 20-30 degrees from petiole bending stress fractures.   The wind came from the north(front yard, street) and the windward side of my most exposed palms(bismarckia. copernicia bailey, copernicia fallaensis) showed the most leaf fracture or snapping damage.  Sabal uresana(15-18') snugged near the 30' bizzie showed minimal damage.  My two royals, the tallest trees in my yard(35-45'?), lost 7-8 leaves each, snapped at the crown on the windward side only.  My Beccariophoenix alfredii did not lose any leaves but crowns were splayed out and newest spears were "worked open" to yellowish leaves.  My most exposed palm on the windward side, copernicia fallaensis out alone near the street.   With a 28-30" thick smooth trunk, it had extensive leaf wind damage on the windward side, but no way a palm with that extensive root system at ~22' tall or so is falling down without more wind than we saw.  Caribbean palms evolved in a hurricane climates so that higher wind resistance to toppling(death) is expected.  Again, taller palms were hit harder and the loss of leaves/leaflets is self protective, it prevents palms from getting knocked down.  I cannot determine the worst palm in susceptibility to wind damage since nothing tilted and shorter palms were protected from the highest winds.  My royals lost the most leaves, but they are going to come roaring back based on past IRMA damage(not nearly as extensive as Ian).  I will offer two hypothesis which I think are likely true and are consistent with my observations:  

1) the most exposed palms, either taller than others and/or hanging out there as singles in open grassy areas take a much worse beating than grouped palms which help each other with windbreak around them and that especially includes the house blocking winds from the windward direction on small palms that do not rise much above the roof.   I had 25 5-15 gal container palms at ground level near the house (or stuffed into the base of groups of palms/bushes) with no damage at all, some were knocked over but no damage. 

2) the strength of many root systems depends on the nature of your dry cycle, how deep and extensive does it cycle between dry and wet?  If you water too frequently, weak roots can allow your alfredii to topple since they have a massive "sail" of up to 15-20 big leaves.  If you don't water enough the same root stunting can happen, though less likely in florida.  Ive seen bismarckia 25' tall (in rocky wet soil in miami) that I could push on the trunk and the crown would move.  Putting palms out in the grass as singles should be considered carefully, wet lovers will perhaps be ok, but say a bismarckia or alfredii from the high plains of madagascar -which as a wet and a dry season- can have stunted roots from too frequent watering and get more easily knocked down.  All my wet loving archies and chambys were on the leeward side of the house so they just didnt get hammered.  A neighbors sabal palmetto with 10' clear trunk that was planted out front on the windward side alone by itself and 15' away from the corner of the house, was snapped at the trunk 5' above the ground.  It saw the same winds that my copernicia fallaensis, causiarum and bismarckia saw.   Those three with trunks from 28" to 40" are unlikely to snap as soon as a sabal palmetto I guess.  None of my three alfredii are planted in grass, all have top mulch and turface MVP dressing and I shut down my irrigation system when the rain comes for days/weeks at a time in summer.  My goal has always been deeper more extensive root systems as they lead to bigger more robust palms.  I have found sabal causiarum roots near 1/4" thick 30' away from my big sabal.  If a palm is taller and has a huge crown it will need much more strength in the roots to withstand getting knocked down.  Spindles, foxtails have small crowns so they are not expected to get knocked down and they didnt in my area.  My most exposed alfredii had no leaves snapped and zero tilt, it just opened up the crown a bit.   One last comment:  There is always a period of time say 5-7 years or so where the roots are strengthening so they will not be at full strength before that and might get toppled if the crown has lots of leaves that catch wind like a sail(alfredii).  WIth an Ian type storm it makes sense to thin the crown of a young alfredii and/or wrap up the crown before it hits.  Better to have leaf loss than root damage.   It will take a couple summers for all my palms to recover I think, but NOTHING was knocked down and had the roots damaged.  Planting density matters and while my yard isnt much "over planted" out front by conventional "cookie cutter real estate landscaping designs" terms, the back yard has a good planting density with ~30 palms 15' -45' in about 3000 square foot area.  My two 15' satakentias were nestled in this area and had zero damage, as did my similarly sized chambeyronia macrocarpa which was shielded on the leeward side of the house at its 15' height.  I have a livistona chinensis with 4 trunks, no visible damage and it should have seen some wind, though its only 15-18' tall.  This palm could have been protected some by taller palms in the area(alfredii, royals) that slowed the wind a little.  All in all I consider myself lucky, no house damage or injuries and in 3 years the damage from Ian should be a memory.  I was impressed by the damage Ian did to non palms, those elms don't belong here and those oaks evolved as forests not singles out in the open.  

It sounds like you made out quite well.   Beat up fronds is one thing.  Toppled and snapped rare palms is quite another.   Glad your Copernicia made out ok.  I think the ones at Fairchild did topple quite a bit in past storms.   Perhaps it’s the limestone rock below.  I think straightened and braced they recovered.   Glad to hear your bigger Alfredii held up too.   I’m hoping Alfiis cement in with age.  

Satakentia hold up quite well in storms I’m thinking.   Robust trunks and light, whispy fronds are a good combo for them.   Spindles and bottles do well.   Foxtails and A. Merrillii seem to do well too.   Royals do well, but when they do fall, they cause tremendous damage due to their giant trunk size.  

Maybe post some pics if you want.  

Anyone have any Pseudophoenix Sargentii?  Mine are all small, but man, they root in very solidly, even at a young age they seem absolutely cemented into the ground.  
 

 

[aabell]

Once I'm done picking up the mess of my yard I will eventually get out around the city and try to take inventory of what species fared best and worst here in Fort Myers but here are a few quick observations -

The largest palm at my place, a very tall and thick trunked (formerly) Dypsis decaryi looks nearly pristine, barely a bent or tattered frond to be seen. I would have thought the wind would hit those flat sides like a sail and knock it over. I'm more inclined than ever to plant more palms on my lot, the broadleaf trees caused total destruction and mayhem on the rest of the garden as they were ripped apart.

A small and terminally unhealthy Roebellini in a sheltered alcove area by the front door was knocked wobbly at the base so I cut it down, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. A prime spot for a new palm - have to look at the positives. Every other Roebellini I've seen on the block looks came through with flying colors, they seem to be incredibly wind resistant palms. Phoenix in general I haven't seen much damage yet with the exception of one tall old rupicola which had its trunk snapped.

There are hundreds and hundreds of Royals nearby me here and although most are still upright I've seen quite a few fallen over, causing a lot of additional destruction. And of course they all look terrible now with the shed fronds. 

Most Bismarckia I've seen look wilted, friends bruised and dying from the wind. Not pretty but should recover I suppose. Latania look much better at least concerning frond damage for now, but most around here are quite short.

Big Eleais down the street had the crown mostly sheared off, looks like it isn't going to make it. There are several others I want to check on.

Queens and washies have a bad reputation and there are certainly some losses there but they didn't perform terribly. Still better than most plants. The biggest queen down the street has a lean now but still has a bigger healthier crown than most Florida queens. Washies I think either had their thin trunks snap or were fine.

 

 

 

 

 

[Looking Glass]

28 minutes ago, aabell said:

Once I'm done picking up the mess of my yard I will eventually get out around the city and try to take inventory of what species fared best and worst here in Fort Myers but here are a few quick observations -

The largest palm at my place, a very tall and thick trunked (formerly) Dypsis decaryi looks nearly pristine, barely a bent or tattered frond to be seen. I would have thought the wind would hit those flat sides like a sail and knock it over. I'm more inclined than ever to plant more palms on my lot, the broadleaf trees caused total destruction and mayhem on the rest of the garden as they were ripped apart.

A small and terminally unhealthy Roebellini in a sheltered alcove area by the front door was knocked wobbly at the base so I cut it down, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. A prime spot for a new palm - have to look at the positives. Every other Roebellini I've seen on the block looks came through with flying colors, they seem to be incredibly wind resistant palms. Phoenix in general I haven't seen much damage yet with the exception of one tall old rupicola which had its trunk snapped.

There are hundreds and hundreds of Royals nearby me here and although most are still upright I've seen quite a few fallen over, causing a lot of additional destruction. And of course they all look terrible now with the shed fronds. 

Most Bismarckia I've seen look wilted, friends bruised and dying from the wind. Not pretty but should recover I suppose. Latania look much better at least concerning frond damage for now, but most around here are quite short.

Big Eleais down the street had the crown mostly sheared off, looks like it isn't going to make it. There are several others I want to check on.

Queens and washies have a bad reputation and there are certainly some losses there but they didn't perform terribly. Still better than most plants. The biggest queen down the street has a lean now but still has a bigger healthier crown than most Florida queens. Washies I think either had their thin trunks snap or were fine.

An informal “lookie-lou” around would be interesting.  These neighborhood surveys can be pretty useful.  Lantania loddegeseii should be pretty wind tolerant being from Round Island, and being smaller, but who knows for sure…. I saw some pics of Triangles, that looked like they were in pretty good shape, in various spots.   They seem to hold up well. 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Looking Glass

[sonoranfans]

5 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

It sounds like you made out quite well.   Beat up fronds is one thing.  Toppled and snapped rare palms is quite another.   Glad your Copernicia made out ok.  I think the ones at Fairchild did topple quite a bit in past storms.   Perhaps it’s the limestone rock below.  I think straightened and braced they recovered.   Glad to hear your bigger Alfredii held up too.   I’m hoping Alfiis cement in with age.  

Satakentia hold up quite well in storms I’m thinking.   Robust trunks and light, whispy fronds are a good combo for them.   Spindles and bottles do well.   Foxtails and A. Merrillii seem to do well too.   Royals do well, but when they do fall, they cause tremendous damage due to their giant trunk size.  

Maybe post some pics if you want.  

Anyone have any Pseudophoenix Sargentii?  Mine are all small, but man, they root in very solidly, even at a young age they seem absolutely cemented into the ground.  
 

 

Yes though it had been 83 years since a hurricane level wind hit here prior to IRMA.  We do not expect high hurricane winds, and we traded a USDA zone for that when we bought the house.  As far as knocking things over, deep roots fare better but miami area also sees much higher winds than here, mostly.  But I will take the high drainage sandy soil that enables the growth of deep roots and I expect to grow a more robust palm.  My fallaensis has roots all over that area (11 years in the ground) and deep too, its out in the open by itself, sharing no soil and no sun with any palm, just grass which I keep at bay.  My view is that thick trunks with big root systems are less likely to snap(neighbors palmetto was 7-8" caliper, it snapped), the palms I have out front exposed all have thick trunks from BxJ to bismarckia.  Like I pointed out above in a previous post, that wet rocky soil leads to small shallow root systems in some palms.  Here is my fallaensis with the windward side ripped up, zero tilt of the trunk.   Second is most exposed windward side view: C baileyana had the house 12' behind it, that helped, sabal causiarum leaves laid down with longitudinal stress fractures of the petioles and grow point seems lower, new leaves bending too.  Third photo causiarum windward side with petiole damage up close.  Fourth photo sabal mauritiiformis saved by big magnolia to windward(north) and house to the west, they have a reputation for bad wind damage but not too bad.  Im giving credit to that magnolia which shows little damage. #5 triple A. Alexandre with crown just above other palms except for royals lost plenty of leaflets in the protected leeward position but above the house.  My thinner trunked palms are behind the house(chambys macrocarpa and oliviformis, dypsis pembana, archies(alexandre, myolensis, purpurea).   Satakentia were also in protected areas, no damage is about as telling as no damage on S. mauritiiformis nearby.  Most of my crownshafted palms are bunched and protected(exception royals), but still lost lots of leaflets and some leaves in their protected leeward position.   Many of these palms lost leaves during that strange january frost so that may have helped limit chances of snapping or tilting.  The new red leaf on my chambeyronia in last pic just opened last night.  It might be my most protected palm but still leaves were tattered, save the new one.

[sonoranfans]

I guess the pics didnt post due to memory.  Here are the sabal fractures of petioles and royal leaves snapped at crown

[sonoranfans]

here is fallaensis

[Looking Glass]

16 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

here is fallaensis

This guy isn’t going to break in any wind.  Overall, some fronds mashed here and there, but everything will look great again before too long.  Not bad at all.  

[Merlyn]

@sonoranfansyour Fallaensis looks a lot like my smaller Bismarckia.  It has a few tattered ends, and a couple of fans that are kind of bent in half, but nothing more than cosmetic damage.  A few Bismarckia out in the open had about 25% bent/broken fronds, similar to your sabal breaks.  But none of them actually broke off entirely.  I suppose that's a good thing in terms of "flying debris," unlike the Royals that snapped off and went airborne.  I'll snap a photo of the somewhat damaged Bismarcks nearby.

[DTS]

On 10/2/2022 at 10:32 PM, Tropicdoc said:

red pin is my house

dude you have a lot of houses   /j

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

I have not traveled out of my local areas here since the storm. (Downtown St Pete - south).  I live on a small island in southern Tampa bay, we were evacuated  & prepared our place to take on several feet of water. By the time it was clear we were going to be spared the worst of Ian’s fury all of our prep has been completed.  It was a harrowing experience the two days leading up knowing the the possibility we would be flooded and Hokies after the storm was very very real.   We got extremely lucky here in all of Tampa bay even with the pretty significant glancing blow.  We are very thankful and our hearts go out to those in SWFL.   Many places I have visited, know and love are now just gone.   I have some extended family on Pine Island and the damage there is extensive / catastrophic.  They decided to stay (I’m sorry but I still think it was stupid) and we’re forced to their second floor as storm surge  fully engulfed the bottom floor to the ceiling.  They are extremely lucky to be alive.      
 

I can tell you what I’ve seen Here in far southern Pinellas/ south st Pete.  This was similar to Irma.  Some places a little worse, some places a little less.    Sustained winds for about 4-6 hours were  hurricane force, gusting well into the 80s, probably higher where wind came across wide waters.     Gusting into the 70s happened nearly all day and night. The day following the storm stated cloudy but became partly sunny.  Winds all day gusting 40-50.   
 

lots of down trees / tree damage down here. Some palms look very ratty.  Many royals lost some to  alot of fronds.  Bizmarcia look very beat up but that’s nothing new after big storm winds.  Coconuts seem mostly fine, some broken fronds here & there.   I did see one healthy looking coconut that fell completely over though.  Queens mostly ok to fairly beat up.  Date palms got trimmed pretty well, accept pigmy’s.  They look mostly fine.  Sabal palmetto and washies, some look pretty beat up, others look mostly fine.  
 

Anything herbaceous like bananas got mostly stripped of foliage, as did papaya trees.   White birds of paradise & travelers palms got beat up bad too.  In places it stripped half to lost of the foliage from some broad leaf monocots like some oaks, maples, etc.  all of the crape myrtles here on our condo property got stripped mostly bare. 

[Tropicdoc]

1 hour ago, DTS1 said:

dude you have a lot of houses   /j

My bad

the pin next to the eye of the gigantic storm. 
what sucks for me Is I get tropical STORMS but not tropical WINTERS 😖