It's been nearly five months since Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean nation of Dominica, but a Swift Current resident, who hails from the small island, says there's still a long road ahead of recovery.

Hurricane Maria was just one of a few that really made headlines, and it hit the commonwealth country located between French-speaking Guadeloupe and Martinique on September 18.

"The island, the whole is still recovering," said Mervin St. Luce, who is a research scientist at the Swift Current Research & Development Centre. "Even my village, presently, well the last I heard there was still no electricity and no running water. Most of the schools are still not functional. Kids are going to school in tents, and they are doing by shifts, because buildings are unavailable."

Around 73,500 called the island home in 2016, according to the World Bank. Now there may not be quite as many people, as St. Luce says the destruction has severely hampered the job market.

"The roads are clear. A lot of people have lost jobs because companies and businesses are destroyed. There's a university - an American offshore medical school - they had to move back to the US for some time."

St. Luce says people he's gotten to know in Swift Current have made things easier.

"It's a lot of damage and I've got a lot of support from staff members. People came to donate, and we were able to purchase stuff to send back to the community so it was distributed by the village council to different families, and even the schools got supplies. A lot of funds were given, that was very big for me to know that I just arrived here, and I got that support. It really touched me."