Addressing climate vulnerability remains important for St. Lucie, even as air currents induced a lull over stronger sustained weather like hurricanes this past summer.
The county Board of Commissioners approved the adoption of a new disaster mitigation plan to protect at least $40 billion in assets Sept. 1.
This new plan builds on one last approved in 2021, county records show. However, the board did not discuss the item as the topic of limiting A.I.-powered law enforcement cameras took precedence that night.
New mitigation strategies intend to protect county homes, crops and public structures primarily from natural catastrophes. They can be found in a 572-page document prepared by IEM International, a Raleigh, N.C., resiliency assessment company.
The plan calls to protect 142,977 public structures altogether valued at just under $40 billion. The cost to replace them stands at approximately $77.4 billion.
The hazards that present the most constant risks arise through tropical storms: flooding from excess rainfall; lightning strikes; coastal erosion; and, though more seldom, tornadoes.
St. Lucie, being in a low-lying coastal floodplain, is particularly susceptible to flooding. Rainfall, according to the study, averages approximately 55.89 inches annually, most often peaking in September with an average of 8.21 inches.
To ease stormwater drainage, the county would need to spend around $122.5 million to bolster their waterways, according to studies conducted last year by county Resilience Navigator Sandra Bogan.
Storms remain concerning as they still loom over Florida’s East Coast.
For another year so far, St. Lucie has been spared the damage of Dorian (2019), Isaias (2020), Ian, Nicole (both 2022) and, especially, Milton.
The six tornadoes unleashed by Hurricane Milton in late 2024 still linger in memory and county documents. The damage from its six tornadoes alone cost six lives (a seventh died in a separate storm-prep-related fall) and St. Lucie $497.5 million in damages.
Lightning also poses a risk. Although spared from extreme cases – like the strikes that killed two and injured eight throughout South Florida last month – its presence may creep over land dried out from drought.
Drought conditions continue to vary, especially in unincorporated St. Lucie, according to the Florida Forest Service. Unlike much of the Southeast, St. Lucie kept a moderate Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) of 325 out of 800. Rain between 0.6 and 1.15 inches the day before brought the index down from a drier 382.
The strategy also discussed the February freeze, which killed plants and dried out soil.
More lightning may ignite a wildfire, as it happened across approximately 700 acres in May 2024. Even so, it remains of minimal concern, said Forestry Area Supervisor Marty Harn. “St. Lucie is one of the slower counties in our district.”
The last lightning-related fire burned across 1 acre near the Pinelands Preserve on July 13. “Typically,” said Harn, “we have drier spots within the county, where we get very little rain (and) we will see lightning-caused fires in those areas.
“We feel very good at the current conditions, but we are still under the total amount of rainfall for the year,” said Harn. “If we don’t get those numbers at or above the average amount, we could see an increase in fire activity when we start to dry out again.”
The NWS Melbourne Office, which monitors St. Lucie, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.