When Hurricane Helene roared over the mountains before dawn last week, it brought a maelstrom of water that rose to the mailbox of Shelby Holzhauser's little white house on the banks of the Swannanoa River.

Last year, researchers at Tulane University ranked Asheville, North Carolina, as one of the most “climate-resilient cities” in the United States — municipalities whose geographies, economies, and preparedness appeared to offer some refuge from wildfires,