Florida woman rides out Dorian in Bahamas

A Florida woman described her harrowing account as she rode out a Category 5 Dorian as it sat over the Bahamas last week.

Maggie Rende, of Ormond-by-the-Sea, has called Green Turtle Cay her second home for 20 years.  As Dorian approached, she took cover at a friend's house.  She said she has experienced many hurricanes and tropical storms, but nothing quite compared to this. Within minutes, she and her Bahamian family went from a nice meal and storm watching to a house crumbling around them.

"Seventeen hours of the little part of the roof that was left lifting and coming down, and lifting and coming down," she explained. "The window blew-in and glass was flying everywhere and the roof lifted and the whole house just started falling apart, so I just screamed we all need to get in the bathroom; I'd always just been told, 'Go to the bathroom!'"

She and her six friend piled into the bathroom for shelter, with no food or water.  By the time the storm cleared, it was the only room that held together.  Rende was able to get out on a cargo plane.

"I never went back to my house. I didn't even get a chance to say 'goodbye.'"

Rende said they had no information out there and never knew how slow Dorian was moving.  Now, back home and safe, she is trying to get help to those still on the island, having launched a Go Fund Me account for her community on the small island. She fears it may be forgotten, next to the massive damage on the larger islands.

"It's going to be a long, long road to recovery for them, but they'll come back," she said.