SWANNANOA, N.C. — On September 27 of last year, Hurricane Helene slammed into Western North Carolina, unleashing historic flooding that devastated communities from Asheville to Swannanoa.

Photographer Stefan Pruitt remembers lying awake as the storm grew stronger.

“I laid there listening to the wind get stronger and stronger,” Pruitt said. “By three or four in the morning, I’d only slept a few hours before I knew I had to get up.”

By dawn, he was capturing dramatic images of Biltmore Village underwater and the River Arts District inundated by rushing floodwaters.

“Looking at my radar, it wasn’t even the big part of the storm yet,” Pruitt recalled.

The scenes were eerily reminiscent of 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes triggered deadly flooding across the region. But Helene’s impact p

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