Search and rescue workers were fanning through the small town of Chimney Rock east of Asheville Monday after it was almost entirely wiped out.

Tracy Stevens had left her house in Chimney Rock Thursday night and gotten a room at the Lake Lure Inn, which had a generator and was staying open through the storm. The two towns, both popular tourist destinations, are walking distance to one another, joined by a bridge across the Broad River in the mountains of Rutherford County.

Before this scenic, rustic Great Smoky Mountain refuge turned into a trap few residents saw coming, there were signs of Hurricane Helene’s unthinkable potential.