{O/C} South Carolina was the second to be jolted by Hurricane Ian's wrath which left behind widespread damage.
As the storm is billed as one of the costliest hurricanes ever to ravage the United States, residents in Florida are grappling with the atrocious aftermath.
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Seawater breached fences and sandbags as it smothered South Carolina's streets.
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After getting refreshments from the warm waters in the Atlantic, Hurricane Ian regained strength as it punished South Carolina with intimidating rains and wicked winds.
A boat was swept ashore as neighbourhoods were turned into lakes with homes decimated.
Firefighters scrambled to pluck trapped residents to safety.
Storm surge also wreaked merciless havoc, with this pier in Pawleys Island washed away and trees wrecked.
The storm also left many areas of Charleston's downtown submerged.
Ian has now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
The storm is the first to make landfall in South Carolina after 2016.
Back in Florida, where Ian made its first landfall, residents are coming to terms with a bruising aftermath as neighbourhoods were flooded and entire homes were obliterated.
The storm has also choked Floridians with heaps of rubble, literally.
Taller condo buildings fled largely unscathed, but several roofs were mangled.
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ANTHONY RIVERSA, Fort Myers, Florida Resident:
To see a boat literally right next to my apartment as I'm trying to pull my grandmother and my girlfriend out. That's the scariest thing in the world.
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ESSENCE CORDERO, Fort Myers, Florida Resident:
One minute I'm crying, the next minute I'm thinking like it'll get better. But then I keep crying, and then it's just like the same pattern on and off.
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Governor Ron DeSantis tried to lift dampened spirits.
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RON DeSANTIS, Florida Governor:
When you look at some of these things, like you see a house totally washed out, you just hope that those were folks that had left or those structures were not occupied.
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The death toll from the relentless storm has climbed to at least 27 as rescuers continue their feverish search for the missing.
In addition to its fatalities the storm has also trampled on the U.S. economy, with an estimated 100 billion U.S. dollars in losses.
Both the Florida and South Carolina communities will entail years for rehabilitation.
Describing the storm as the worst in his nation's history, President Joe Biden empowered Americans to unite.
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JOE BIDEN, United States President:
America's heart is literally breaking.
It's not just a crisis for Florida, this is an American crisis. We're all in this together.
In times like these, Americans come together, they put aside politics, they put aside division, and we come together to help each other.
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