Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of floods and wreckage in south-eastern US

Tropical storm moves into Atlantic but torrential rain and inland flooding still likely in North Carolina, officials warn

Residents across the south-eastern US were beginning the clean-up from Hurricane Idalia on Thursday as Joe Biden signed a major disaster declaration for Florida and the weakened but still powerful tropical storm dumped torrents of rain in North Carolina and Virginia.

The worst of the devastation was evident along Florida's Gulf coast, where Idalia tore ashore on Wednesday as a category 3 hurricane with gusts of 160mph and sent a surge of seawater of up to 16ft far inland through vulnerable low-lying communities.