Hurricane Ian: Florida and Carolinas comb wreckage to assess deadly toll

Twenty-seven reported dead in Florida and four in North Carolina as residents try to rebuild from one of most powerful recent storms

As Hurricane Ian upended the lives of millions along the south-eastern United States, authorities sifting through the wreckage in Florida and the Carolinas were reporting a few dozen deaths as of Saturday, and the states' residents were early in the stages of rebuilding from one of the strongest, most expensive hurricanes in recent American history.

The storm had worked its way north after slamming into Florida and slowly weakening, gathering some of its strength back from the warm Atlantic Ocean waters before hitting South Carolina on Friday. It made its second US landfall in Georgetown, 60 miles north of Charleston, destroying parts of four popular piers, including two in Myrtle Beach.