Hurricane Ian: ‘catastrophic’ damage in Florida as storm heads to South Carolina

Biden says hurricane could be deadliest in state's history' as storm regains strength and heads towards South Carolina

The catastrophic" scale of the damage wreaked by Hurricane Ian's 150mph deadly rampage across Florida has become clearer as emergency crews rescued trapped residents from flooded homes, and authorities expressed fears of a growing death toll.

As South Carolina braced for Ian to make a second landfall on Friday, search and rescue crews in south-west Florida conducted hundreds of missions in areas that were submerged by a storm surge of up to 18ft after one of the most powerful storms to strike the US swept ashore on Wednesday.