With Hurricane Milton approaching Florida's Gulf Coast as a major hurricane , tropical storm-like conditions are expected from Wednesday night, Oct. 9, through Thursday in Palm Beach County, home of former President Donald Trump ’s famous Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
While Trump and his family will not be in Palm Beach as the storm moves through Florida, they should be able to rest a little easier over the next few days knowing that Mar-a-Lago — the official residence of the Republican presidential candidate that was referred to as the "Winter White House" and "Southern White Hosue" when he was president — has weathered intense hurricanes since it was built in 1927 by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her then-husband, stockbroker E.F. Hutton.
For one thing, the house is literally rock solid: Concrete and steel anchors the structure to the coral reef below it. Many of the walls are 3 feet thick.
“This place will not move,” said the late Tony Senecal, who for years served as Trump’s butler at Mar-a-Lago, in 2005. “That's why, during a hurricane, you'll always see me here. If it goes, I'll go with it.”
Mar-a-Lago's stucco-covered walls have remained standing after every hurricane, including the massive killer storm that wreaked havoc on South Florida’s coast in 1928. The damage at Mar-a-Lago, however, was mostly confined to uprooted trees, Post later said, although there was damage to the mansion's famous Roman-style window.
The mansion weathered another hurricane in 1947 that flooded the neighborhood and points south, and washed away much of the coastal road.
But the house isn't totally impervious.
In September 2017, a part of the main club building sustained roof damage and minor roof leaks when the outer bands of Hurricane Irma swept Palm Beach. In addition, several trees were knocked down and landscaping was thinned along the property's south wall. Town officials at the time confirmed they had received no reports of structural damage to Mar-a-Lago or any building on the island.
Earlier, the building withstood the double whammy of back-to-back Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004.
“We lost a lot of the vegetation that gave Mar-a-Lago its character,” Trump told The Palm Beach Post after Frances. “I wasn't there for the storm, but I've been told by my people there that it re-landscaped the place. There was a little flooding in some of the basements, too.”
In 2005 came Hurricane Wilma, which surprised locals with its strength when it barreled in from the west.
An investigation by the Associated Press in 2016 found little evidence that Wilma severely damaged Mar-a-Lago, despite Trump saying in a 2007 court deposition that he had been paid $17 million on an insurance claim after the storm.
Trump acquired the mansion in 1985. A decade later, after pouring millions of dollars into its restoration, he opened The Mar-a-Lago Club, retaining residential quarters to use for himself and family members. Trump-related entities also own three houses adjacent to the club property.
Hurricane Milton preparations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach
When a hurricane threatens, the staff at Mar-a-Lago prepares for the storm in much the same way that other Palm Beach property owners do, including removing or securing outdoor furnishings and other items that could become wind-borne missiles during a storm.
Property owners also might lower the water levels in the swimming pool and place sandbags in front of outside doors, especially important in low-lying areas.
Full-house generators were rarities in Palm Beach before the storms of 2004 and 2005 but are now commonplace. Owners often give their generators a test-run in anticipation of electricity outages following a storm.
During Trump's restoration project in the 1990s, Mar-a-Lago's original windows were carefully preserved and restored, including a number of elaborately gilded ones in the main room, according to Fort Lauderdale-based architect Tamara Peacock of Peacock Architects, who worked on the project.
Unlike other historic buildings that have been restored in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago still uses old-fashioned metal window shutters to protect its vintage windows, including the large one on the front of the building.
In 2016, Peacock said Mar-a-Lago was better equipped to withstand a storm than many vintage buildings.
“I've seen quite a number of historic houses during my career," she said. "It’s the most well-built.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Hurricane Milton: Trump's Mar-a-Lago should be safe, with anchors stuck to coral reef
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