NFM residents hit hard by Ian
Judith Lindsten looked at the huge hole in her roof from what was once her living room, thinking to herself this was not what her home looked like.
Lindsten, 76, had recently placed her home on Windmill Village in North Fort Myers for sale, after living there for nearly 15 years, and planned to move back to Illinois to be closer to her family.
Now, her home in ruins due to Hurricane Ian, she is wondering what she is going to do next. Will she stay in Illinois? Winter in Florida as a snowbird? Will the insurance pay for all the damages to her home?
These and many other questions are being asked by a lot of homeowners after the worst hurricane to hit Southwest Florida in generations. Some have been forced them to live with neighbors, others in the common halls of their communities, and even in their badly damaged homes, by themselves.
Lindsten lived in Pine Lakes when Charley hit in 2004 and in her current home during Irma in 2017. Both times her home emerged with little to no damage.
Lindsten, who stayed with a friend in Palm Island during Hurricane Ian, didn’t have such luck this time, adding on to what has been a rough year for her.
“I came back Thursday to see how the house did and I was totally shocked. I lost my husband in May and a lot of things have happened here,” Lindsten said. “I have to stay strong.”
Members of the Community Emergency Response Team and neighbors have come to her rescue to help her with things she may need.
“I have a neighbor check to make sure I’m here. People have been good. They stop and help clean up some of the mess outside and say how sorry they are,” Lindsten said.
Now, she has to wait to hear from her insurance company. Lindsten has lived in Florida for 25 years and loves it here. She was selling because she was alone in the house and wanted to be near family.
“My whole family is in Illinois within an eight-mile radius. If this can be repaired, I wouldn’t mind being a snowbird. I love the house,” Lindsten said.
At Suncoast Estates, David Scott, 66, ended up with a huge hole in the family room of his single-wide mobile home on McDaniel Drive.
“The ceiling fell on top of me at 1:30 a.m. and I had to get up and sleep in the van,” said Scott, who escaped serious injury. “I was really worried about this other room because the ceiling was coming down to begin with.”
Perhaps the worst damage came outside, where his daughter Jennifer kept toys for the kids who live in the community so she and her organization can pass them out during the annual Christmas toy run. Bikes and other toys were a mangled mess in the backyard.
As far as his future, Scott has a daughter and several grandkids (two of whom were helping him fix the house) who also live the in the community. As someone who has lived in South Florida his entire life, including the last 32 in Suncoast, leaving is not an option.
“I’ve been in this house since 1990. I have my kids and grandkids all over the place. You have to have family. I don’t want to rebuild, but they want to rebuild,” Scott said. “They said it takes too long to get what FEMA is going to give you. But this place is trashed. I’m just lucky to be alive. North Fort Myers is my home.”
Scott topped it off with a little sense of humor, which you have to have in situations like this.
“I’m a true believer in karma and I really must have made someone pissed off,” Scott said.
Paula Keire stood near her damaged home in Royal Coach Estates off Bayshore Road the day after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc there and in neighboring Royal Coach Village.
“That right there is the master bedroom where the roof came off from the one right next to it and slammed into the side of my house and wiped out the bedroom,” she said as she surveyed the wreckage. Fortunately, she was not in the room as the storm debris blew through.
Royal Coach Estates and Royal Coach Village were among the hard-hit mobile home parks in North Fort Myers.
Others impacted by Hurricane Ian’s winds include the manufactured home communities of Carriage Village and Lake Fairways.
Allen Ferguson picked up debris in front of his damaged home in Royal Coach Estates.
“We had a carport. I have no idea where that is,” he said as his dog, Jasmin, barked through the window at neighbors passing by and helping in the community’s cleanup efforts.
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