On September 27, the remnants of Hurricane Helene struck southern Appalachia, bringing torrential floods that devastated large swathes of the region and left hundreds dead and missing. While Appalachia is no stranger to deadly floods, Helene’s unprecedented rainfall and the destruction it wrought on an area previously marketed as a “climate haven” has served as a wake-up call about the challenges the region faces under climate change.

In adapting to this new…