Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake.
After weakening across Florida, Ian has regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and is headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday.
"Flooding rains (are) likely across the Carolinas and southwestern Virginia," the NHC added.
The storm, one of the most powerful ever to hit the US, left hundreds of people in need of rescue in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said, hinting at a rising death toll.
Echoing a similar sentiment, President Joe Biden on Thursday declared an emergency in South Carolina, ordering federal assistance in response efforts, according to a White House statement.
The NHC has issued a hurricane warning for the entire coast of South Carolina as well as portions of Georgia and North Carolina.
Ian is likely to make landfall on Friday, the NHC said, and then "rapidly weaken over the southeastern US late Friday to Saturday."
Climate change increased the rainfall from Hurricane Ian by more than 10%, according to a new quick-fire analysis.
Fort Myers, where Ian came ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday, took much of the brunt, as streets became rivers and seawater poured into houses.
Dozens of boats moored in the marina were sunk while others were tossed onto downtown streets.
Much of Florida's southwest coast was plunged into darkness after the storm wiped out power.
Tracking website PowerOutage.us said 2.1 million homes and businesses remained without electricity in the Sunshine State on Friday.
Two barrier islands near Fort Myers, Pine Island and Sanibel Island, popular with vacationers, were essentially cut off when the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.
Before pummeling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island's power network.
Electricity was gradually returning on Thursday, but many homes remain without power.
At least two people died in Pinar del Rio province, state media in the country of more than 11 million reported.
An estimated 233,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico on Friday, almost two weeks after Hurricane Fiona caused an island-wide outage for its 3.3 million people.
After hitting Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Fiona turned north and slammed into eastern Canada on September 24, leaving more than a third of Nova Scotia without power.
