Londoners dealing with loss of loved ones, fear for friends, in wake of Hurricane Dorian

At least 20 people in the Bahamas are dead, and one London woman says her 77-year-old aunt was among those killed when the Category 5 Hurricane Dorian mauled the island nation.

"There was no way to escape it," said Raquel Cartwright.

She got the heartbreaking phone call from her cousin Tuesday evening, after repeatedly trying to reach family members living in the devastated city of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

"There was no way to get everybody out of Freeport," she said.

Cartwright's aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin's two kids stayed at their home and tried to weather the storm.

"When the house started flooding, they went up into the ceiling of the house," she explained.

"As the water was rising, they dug a hole in the ceiling, in the roof, and they [were] getting on top of the roof, and because of the winds they were blown into the water."

Cartwright said her relatives were able to swim six-metre high flood waters to a tree and tie themselves to it. In the nearly two days it took to be rescued, her aunt, Irene Saunders, died.

"She just succumbed to the weather and the water. She ended up drowning," she said. "We're still in disbelief. We're just saying 'thank god it wasn't the whole family.'"

The United Nations said 70,000 people in the Bahamas needed immediate humanitarian relief after the storm hit, while the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies said as many as 13,000 homes had been destroyed or severely damaged.

Officials expect the death toll to rise, as crews comb through the wreckage.

"I feel kind of guilty, because I'm not there to help," said Cartwright.

She and her fianc moved to Canada from the Bahamas three years ago.

"It's awful to watch. I had to tell my friends and family to stop sending me pictures."

'He expressed to me that he was terrified': Londoner fearful for friend

Angela Porter, meanwhile, is fearful for a young man from the Bahamas that lived with her family for six months last year, while trying to pursue a baseball career.

Oneal Pritchard, 19, had been scouted by the Ontario National Baseball Team, but had to return to his home on the Abaco Island to finish his education, she said.

Porter hasn't heard from him in several days.

"He expressed to me that he was terrifiedand that it was a big hurricane that was coming through, and that was the last of our conversations," she said.

"That island has a lot of devastation, and I'm kind of sitting here worried if his house has been destroyed, if he's even still with us. Just having some connection with him would be super awesome."