Former Shoalhaven woman Susan Buzzi (nee Hickey) talks of Bahamas ongoing recovery after Hurricane Dorian

At the time, early September, when Dorian struck it was the second largest hurricane ever to hit the area and was massive news.

But now, some 10 weeks on - news of the small island and its recovery seem to be non-existent.

Former Nowra woman Susan Buzzi (nee Hickey) lived through Dorian with her husband Pat and their children Tatiana and Airlee, in their home at Freeport on the main island of Grand Bahama.

A well-known Shoalhaven swim star, sister of local rugby league player Steve Hickey and the daughter of local league official Greg Hickey, said the recovery is ongoing and would take a long time for the island to get back to what it once was.

There are still people missing and many houses have just been flattened.

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While most places have had power reconnected, some are still without electricity, instead having to resort to generators, while the island's water supply is also under extreme strain.

"We know we were extremely lucky," she said.

"We stayed in our house - we had no damage. But there are so many who have been left with nothing.

"There are still people missing."

She said the support from around the world has been incredible.

"Compared to Hurricane Matthew, the support worldwide has been amazing," she said.

"People are sending donations, supplies. The World Health Kitchen arrived here as soon as they could after the hurricane and have no plans on leaving. We are all grateful.

"But It's going to take a long, long time to recover."

The couple put a plan in place if needed - Susan and the girls would go to her parents-in-law's home just around the corner.

"Pat has grown up here with his family and lived through many, many hurricanes," she said.

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"I had total trust in him. If he said we were going to be okay, we would be okay.

"He knew what and how to prepare. Mind you, he was doing things I had never seen him do before.

"At one point he called his father and asked if we needed to go to them and he said yes. He's never done that before.

"We've been through three hurricanes since living in Freeport and we've experienced a couple of others at Harbour Island and when we were here on vacation."

She said she gauges the severity of the events by her husband's preparations.

"Category one we don't even need to put the shutters up - even category two we'd be fine," she said.

"Hurricane Matthew a few years ago he said we wouldn't need shutters. The next day he put shutters up. I knew it was going to be big.

"We all knew Dorian was coming. Some were getting ready on the Thursday when I was going to work as a teacher at a nearby school. We were given the next day off to prepare. I rang Pat and he said 'it's all okay'.

"I got home, the whole house was shuttered up, there were 10 five gallon bottles of water in the house, the generator was there and ready.

"He had everything on point - I thought 's..t this is going to be a bad one.'

"And it was but we were so lucky. This was the second biggest storm to ever hit the Bahamas. A lot of the older residents who have lived here a long time say it's the biggest they have ever seen. For about 90 years.

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"A lot of the Bahamians, who like Pat who have lived through category five storms before, stayed.

"But this was something else.

"A lot of the older generations of Bahamians who live on the east and west ends of the island don't leave for hurricanes - they stay put. Unfortunately, this time the east end of the island was hit really bad. A lot of people are still missing.

"In the east houses were just flattened. Simply, they're gone. It's going to take a long, long time to recover.

"A lot of people still don't have power. They are using generators and that's another problem, to run generators you need money to get gas, people don't have jobs to go to, to earn money.

"A lot of people are doing it really tough."

During Dorian, the ocean to the north of the island met with the ocean to the south of the island.

As well as massive winds, there was water surge up to 25 feet high (over 7.5m). At the bridge which crosses the water that splits the island in half the water was 21 foot high (almost 6.5m).

"It was even higher in other places," Mrs Buzzi said.

"Many houses had no chance whatsoever.

"Almost 10 weeks on and because we had no damage where we live, we can still go to the school, big grocery stores are open and suffered no damage.

"It's fine to drive through and it looks fine. But if you take a couple of turns you come across the massive damage. It might just be a couple of minutes journey.

"It's still like it was just after the hurricane hit.

"People's belongings are still out the front of houses that flooded. Other houses were simply destroyed.

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"The International airport is closed. They are saying it might reopen this week (November 15) but they haven't even started work on that."

She said to get on or off the island you have to take a domestic flight or a private plane to one of the neighboring islands and then onto the US mainland or catch a ship or ferry.

Another situation is the water supply, with the city's water coming from wells.

Mrs Buzzi said a lot of the islanders usually don't drink the water supply, because it is usually salty, instead using bottled water.

"It is all filtered etc, you can drink it but it's not nice. But now it is even worse," she said.

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"You can usually clean your teeth with it in a pinch, but it's not nice to drink or even shower under.

"But all the salt water that has inundated the island, all the wells have been flooded and filled by salt water, making it extremely salty.

"You might not get sick from it but it's disgusting - just so salty.

"The island's sanitation company is doing a great job but can only do so much.

"The insides of houses affected by the flooding have to be stripped because the plaster got wet and mould breaks out.

"Many houses still standing have no walls. They can't afford to get the sheet rock."

While Mrs Buzzi and her family have escaped relatively unscathed, Dorian has impacted them, with one of her daughter's best friends still missing.

"Airlee's best friend and his family lived out east where hurricane first hit. He and his father and younger brother and sister are all still missing. They haven't found their bodies," she said.

"Only his mother survived and she's now being cared for in the US.

"Airlee's grade 11 at school went from 83 students to 41. It has been cut in half. Students have left and gone to Nassau on the nearby island of New Providence or the States.

"You don't think about how things like that affect the island."

Mrs Buzzi's best friend, Kim Skene, from Wollongong, who ran the local gymnastics academy has also been forced to leave the island, due to the damage done to centre and its equipment.

"We weren't affected health wise or any of our belongings but the affects are there," she said.

"A lot of people are having a really tough time."