The strongest winds on Mars would just barely move an autumn leaf supposing there was one lying on the Mars surface. They can only lift the Mars dust because it is very fine, similar to cigarette ash. The storm scene in “The Martian” is an intentional mistake for dramatic effect - he needed a way to strand his protagonist on Mars and decided to bend the physics in order to make it more dramatic, as science fiction authors often do. It’s what they call “poetic license”

Most of his book is very hard science or near(ish) future extrapolated technology. However amongst other things, he also had to make the spacesuits much more capable than is likely in the very near future or his protagonist wouldn’t have been able to do much, and his atmospheric recycling (oxygenator, atmospheric regulator, water recycler) is also rather miraculous by present day standards with close to 100% efficiency.

For more on that, see my answer to How realistic is the book "The Martian"?