Slow-moving showers hovered over Asheville, N.C., on Sept. 25. At the time, Hurricane Helene was a Category 1 hurricane, swelling on Cancun’s eastern Gulf of Mexico. By the evening of Sept. 26, that Category 1 hurricane dumped more than nine inches of rain on Asheville, and by noon Sept. 27, the city, perched 2,134 feet above sea level and 392 miles to the nearest coastal waters, began to feel the unimaginable devastation of being submerged by floodwaters. By the afternoon of Sept. 27, the Category 1 storm grew to a Category 4, causing residents in North Carolina to flee in search of safety.