Those were early hints of Helene’s destruction to come. She hadn’t known a storm was on the way. Across the mountains in Swannanoa, Joe Dancy and Jenna Shaw got up before dawn to walk their dog and saw floodwaters creeping toward their house.

After hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane late last week, Helene tore through the Southeast, leaving scores of people dead and millions without power as it unleashed historic rain and flooding.