Palms bend, they rarely break
Palm trunks flex significantly in high wind without snapping, which is why palms are often the last trees standing after a major storm. Their vulnerability is more about frond and canopy debris than trunk failure.
Pine's risk is mostly about root anchorage
Pine grows fast on Lehigh Acres' sandy soil, but that speed often comes with a wider, shallower root system than the trunk size would suggest. Pine failures during storms are more often a root-plate issue than a snapped trunk.
Oak's risk shows up in branch structure
Mature oaks are generally sturdy at the trunk and root level, but older, unpruned oaks often develop weak branch unions — co-dominant stems or narrow-angled limbs — that are prone to splitting under wind load.
What this means for a mixed-canopy property
Most Lehigh Acres yards have some combination of all three, which means a single storm-prep approach doesn't fit the whole property. Palms need frond and seed-pod clearing, pines need a root-flare check, and oaks benefit from structural pruning or cabling on weak unions.
The common thread: maintenance history matters more than species
A well-maintained tree of any of these three species generally outperforms a neglected one of the 'better' species. Regular deadwood removal and appropriate pruning does more for storm resilience than species choice alone.