News Cast for June 30th:
The Okeechobee Chamber of Commerce held a hurricane preparedness luncheon that featured local emergency managers and WPBF Chief Meteorologist Chris Martinez.
He provided a recap of last year’s active hurricane season and provided predictions for the 2025 hurricane season which began June 1.
Chamber President Tabitha Trent urged all Okeechobee residents to get prepared this year.
“I think that we all agree that mother nature can not be underestimated. Unfortunately, we took hurricane Milton a little too lightly.”
Trent said Hurricane Milton damaged over 30 homes in Okeechobee and surrounding businesses. There were 6,000 people without power and two people seriously injured due to tornadoes.
Public Safety Director Earl Wooten said there were challenges from the tornadoes. He said they were worried about the storms and here came the tornadoes out of nowhere.
He said they learned a lot of lessons last year. He said the team at emergency operations will be very prepared this year.
Emergency Management Director Karen Kozac said preparedness involves the entire community. She said you should put together home and business plans.
“The more we are prepared, the more we understand where we have an unmet need. We might need an extra resource from the outside. The quicker we can get it here to serve you and the community, that gets us back to a new normal quicker and better and gets us up and going again.”
Martinez said even weathermen couldn’t believe what they were seeing with the tornadoes that spawned off Milton.
“We didn’t have a direct hit from Milton. We had a indirect really big hit from Milton. How do we better prepare? Quite honestly, we were not expecting this last tornado outbreak. No one was expecting it. If a hurricane is coming out way that same tornado set up could happening as well. It could happen but it’s not likely going to happen.”
A key factor was the cold front present in Orlando when Milton approached. He said the storm tapped into the winds in the cold front to produce even stronger winds.
“You saw EF 2 and EF 3 tornadoes come down. It was a perfect weather setup. As we go into this hurricane season, if we see a hurricane take the same path and movement it doesn’t mean we will see the same kind of tornado outbreak.”
The national weather service is expecting an above average hurricane season in 2025. They are predicting 13-19 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes, and 3-5 major hurricanes.
Sebastian Urbano could learn his trial date this week and where the trial will take place.
His defense attorneys filed a change of venue for the upcoming trial on second-degree murder charges.
The defense argued there was too much media attention and inaccurate stories and information put out to the public.
They also complained about comments made on the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Facebook Page.
Private Investigator John Ballard, employed by the defense, said he spoke to 30 Okeechobee residents about the case. He said only seven of them told him that they could be fair and impartial jurors.
Urbano is scheduled to be in court on July 3 for a docket call.
He stands accused of shooting to death a 16-year-old Okeechobee boy at the Scott Driver Boat Ramp and injuring another teenager.
Highlands County Commissioners directed staff to work with the Audubon Society to come up with a dark sky ordinance.
It is likely to cover areas of eastern Highlands County near the Kissimmee Prairie State Park.
Commissioner Don Elwell said he thinks this would work in rural parts of the county.
“People move here because they want to see the stars and you can’t on the coast. This goes into to our quality of life.”
Dr. Paul Gray said the increase in light from development is impacting the ecosystem. He said in many cases they have to educate the public about the impacts on varmints and birds.
“When you talk about light pollution people look at you and say what are you talking about. We shine a light out on the field and the owl comes after the mouse, the mouse sees it and runs away. We are harming the owl super powers. They come out at night for a reason.”
A single vehicle crash claimed the life of a 36-year-old LaBelle man in southern Highlands County Friday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The pickup was southbound on US 27 at 5:41 pm when it somehow entered the grass median, rotated and overturned.
The driver, the victim, was ejected, along with a passenger, a 44-year-old woman from LaBelle. She was seriously injured and hospitalized.
The FHP said neither occupant wore a seat belt.