A man has told how he jumped into the ferocious sea surge as Hurricane Ian battered the Florida coast and saved a woman who was stuck in her ground floor apartment.
The US east coast was hit by the Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150mph on Wednesday and torrential rain that led to flash flooding.
Buildings were ripped apart by the force of the gales while roads were turned into rivers with cars washed away.
The extent of the devastation is now becoming clearer and a recovery mission is under way after one of the strongest ever storms to hit the country.
And among the tales of destruction, there has been one heroic story where a neighbour jumped into the waves to save a woman who was stuck in her flat.
Gage Long was on the first floor of the two-storey complex in Fort Myers which received the brunt of the storm when it hit Florida.
He told how many people didn’t leave their homes despite evacuation calls due to a fear of looting - but then despite being in concrete homes the full danger from the sea became clear.
Sea surges brought yachts moored in the harbour crashing against the buildings.
“We’re in Florida, we’re naturally not scared of hurricanes,” Mr Long told the Daily Beast. ”But nobody expected this. Every time I came to check on the water, it just kept coming… Then I go to look at the water level again and there’s a massive boat just floating at eye level with me.”
Mr Long, 29, said that as he was on the first floor he was far better off and only suffered a power outage and a loss of running water - as well as having a yacht blocking the staircase exit.
But below him a woman, Brenda Long (no relation) had become trapped so he described how he went to rescue her.
He battled the sea surge to find his neighbour on her kitchen counter and with the water level rising so he carried her out and took her to his apartment where she was safe.
“It’s those people on the first floor who felt this the worst,” he said. “The beach area got things the roughest, but I doubt it could be much worse than what those poor people went through yesterday.”
Florida's death toll remained uncertain amid scattered reports of casualties.
President Joe Biden, speaking at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, said Ian could prove to be the deadliest in state history.
"The numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life," Biden said.
In hard-hit Charlotte County, a spokesperson for the sheriff's department confirmed multiple deaths but did not have a firm figure. Authorities in Sarasota County were investigating two possible storm-related deaths, a sheriff's spokesperson said.
