The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) is on Grand Bahama Island today talking to survivors of the storm. He has been able to reach a remote part of the island via ship, here’s his latest dispatch:

As Erica Roberts clung to a tall mango tree, the winds and sea water churned up by hurricane Dorian pounding her face, a single thought ran through her head: “I will not die like this”.

Her home, in the small town of High Rock on the eastern side of Grand Bahama Island, had already been swept away. Her 24 year-old daughter Natori, was along side her clinging to branches as well.

Her face and arms still bear the dry, bloody cuts of her hours exposed to the 185 mph winds. The pair eventually lost their grip but were swept close to a nearby home that had withstood the hurricane’s devastation. They got inside.

“By the grace of God we made it,” she said. “We are survivors.”

The 41-year-old has not yet heard from seven of her close family: two sons, a sister, two nephews, cousins, uncles. All still missing. In this community of around 600, two people have been confirmed dead but at least 20 have not been heard from since Dorian spent almost two days destroying almost every building in sight.

“We need aid. We have nothing. Everyone is doing this self-sufficiently,” she said.

Parts of the road in to High Rock have been stripped of tarmac, leaving piles of rubble, exposed pipework and pools of bronzed water where trapped fish still swim. Broken pylons dangle in the street. The palms are bent at 45 degrees, their leaves shaved off by the wind.

Aid has only just begun to reach these more remote parts of the island.

The storm surge here rose to around 20 feet. Wind gusts were recorded at 220 mph. Many who have lived in this area, about half a mile from the sea, for generations, said the brutality of the storm was something they have never seen or heard of before.

For Roberts, who worked at a nearby casino – also obliterated – the unprecedented intensity of Dorian, the way it rapidly intensified to a category 5 and stood still over the island for over 24 hours, has an obvious explanation.

“I think the climate is playing a big role in all of this,” she said, starring at the muddy tiled floor of a partially destroyed family home she had now taken shelter in. “The severity of this… it’s global warming.”

“I’ve recycled all my life. I use less plastic. And think about less emissions. I’ve always been committed. But the world is not.”