At West Palm Beach , the majority of the damage was confined to vegetation . Several coconut and royal palms that withstood the 1928 hurricane snapped , littering streets with broken trunks . Winds downed road signs on many streets , and floodwaters covered the greens on a local golf course . Some garages and isolated structures , mostly lightweight , were partly or totally destroyed , along with a lumber warehouse . Some homes that lost roofing shingles had water damage to their interiors as well . Nearby Lake Worth sustained extensive breakage of windows , including plate glass , and loss of tile and shingle roofing , but preparations reduced losses to just several thousand dollars , and no post @-@ storm accidents took place . Strong winds snapped many light poles in the city , and trees and shrubs were broken or uprooted . As in Lake Worth , officials in West Palm Beach credited preparations and stringent building codes with reducing overall damage . The city had learned from previous experience with severe storms in 1926 , 1928 , and 1929 . High tides eroded Ocean Boulevard at several spots and disrupted access to several bridges on the Lake Worth Lagoon . Winter estates and hotels on Palm Beach generally sustained little material damage , except to vegetation , and county properties went largely unscathed .