FORT MYERS, Lee County — Surveying property damage around her home is nothing new for Bonnie Steimer, a Berwick native now living in Cape Coral, Florida.
Steimer spoke to Newswatch 16 in 2012 when Tropical Storm Lee flooded her home in Bloomsburg. The flooding close to 11 years ago devastated much of Columbia County.
"This is my third disaster, and I'm hoping if it's true that things come in threes, that this is it for me. But in 2006 and 2011, I lived on Fishing Creek in Bloomsburg and went through both of those floods, so here I am with this."
Steimer was left with damage after Hurricane Ian made landfall not far from her Florida home.
"There was no water here, but the wind was bad. I mean, we're looking at Category Four. Just blew everything all over the place. I basically stayed in my bathroom with my dogs and a pillow and listened to the wind and just prayed to God that everything held up and nothing came down on my head."
Steimer didn't have power for more than a week, and she knows the exterior damage she's left with is not as bad as others closer to the shore in the Fort Myers Area. She says she is getting unbelievable support from people from her hometown.
"People from Berwick, they have been amazing," Steimer said. "Berwick is a beautiful community."
Steimer received anonymous support in a letter that said, "Because you're from Berwick, because you're in need, it's not much, but I hope it helps."
"They just start. They're beautiful people, and if anything happens to anyone in the community, Berwick people are there. They pitch in and they help, and they're amazing, and they're all in touch with me and between even the kindness, the thoughts, the prayers, the support. It's just totally amazing. I mean, I'm down here, but I'm still in their hearts," Steimer said. "This is how people are in northeastern Pennsylvania. They give them of themselves, and they help, and God bless us all up there."
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