At least 20 people have died and millions left without power on Friday as Hurricane Helene roared through the south-eastern US.
It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Florida’s Big Bend and moved north into Georgia and the Carolinas after making landfall overnight on Thursday.
Although Helene has weakened to a tropical storm, forecasters warn that high winds, flooding and the threat of tornados would continue.
Roads and houses were submerged on Friday, with one family describing how they had to swim out of their home to safety. Insurers and financial institutions say damage caused by the storm could run into the billions of dollars.
The eye of Helene, which had been a category four storm, came ashore on Thursday night.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said a storm surge – heightened water levels mostly caused by high winds blowing water towards shore – reached more than 15ft (4.5m) above ground level across parts of the Florida coast.
The NHC said the surge should subside on Friday but that the threat from high winds and flooding would persist, including possible landslides.
Up to 20in (50cm) of rain is possible in places.
The hurricane is the 14th most powerful to hit the US since records began. At approximately 420 miles (675 km) wide, it is behind only two other hurricanes – Ida in 2017 and Opal in 1996, both of which were 460 miles wide.
Because of its sheer size, the impact of strong winds and heavy rain have been widespread across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said on Friday that at least five people have died in the area since the previous night.
First responders worked throughout the night but were unable to answer several emergency calls due to the conditions, Mr Gualtieri said, according to Reuters.
Pinellas County includes the city of St Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf coast.
Speaking late on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said two people had died elsewhere in Florida – one after a road sign fell on their car and another when a tree fell on a home.
“You need to be right now just hunkering down,” DeSantis said. “Now is not the time to be going out.”
Two people in Wheeler County in Georgia also died, authorities said, when a suspected tornado picked up and overturned a mobile home.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said 11 people died in his state, including one first responder. Kemp ordered 1,000 National Guard troops to deploy to aid rescue efforts.
The Georgia governor said more than 150 roads have been closed and that 1,300 traffic signals are out across the state, and warned that some people are still trapped in buildings.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said two people were killed in his state, one in a motor vehicle collision and another when a tree fell on a home in Charlotte.
More than 100 rescues have taken place since Helene landed in the state, Cooper said during a Friday morning news conference.
Across the region more than four million homes and businesses were without power early Friday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.
In Pasco County, north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast, 65 people were rescued, and in Lee County to the south many roads are impassable.
Also along the Florida coast, hotel guests were evacuated from a Ramada Inn in Manatee County as the hotel was flooded with water.
And in Suwannee County to the north, authorities reported “extreme destruction”, with trees falling onto homes.
Michael Brennan, the director of the NHC, said damaging winds are predicted to hit Georgia and the Carolinas throughout Friday, especially over the higher terrain of the Southern Appalachians.
Speaking from the White House on Thursday evening, President Joe Biden urged residents to “listen to local officials and follow evacuation warnings”.
In Taylor County, the Sheriff’s department said that people who refused to evacuate should write their names and dates of birth on their arms in permanent ink “so that you can be identified and family notified”.
Briana Gagnier told the BBC how she and her family saw water creeping into their home on Holmes Beach, Florida, and started moving their belongings onto tables and beds before hearing a loud bang.
“My family and I all looked at one another,” she said. “Then water just started pouring in.”
Ms Gagnier said she grabbed her pets, her wallet and some portable chargers and swam out of their home with her family. The water was up to their shoulders.
Hurricanes need sea surface temperatures of more than 27C (80F) to fuel them.
With exceptionally warm waters of the Gulf at 30-32C, the sea surface is about two degrees Celsius above normal for the time of year.
Florida’s 220-mile Big Bend coast is where Hurricane Idalia made landfall in 2023. The area was also battered by Hurricane Debby last month.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management has posted a list of the counties in which voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders have been issued ahead of Helene.