Shattered Asheville

Asheville, North Carolina, is far away from the coast, and people called it a refuge from the danger of climate disaster.

Alas, Hurricane Helene was so powerful that it reached Asheville and its rain flooded parts of the city. I suppose that the flooding had to do with the major rivers that meet there.

Fast, heavy rain can cause flooding in all sorts of places, and it takes an engineering study to determine where that will happen. The engineering works to prevent flooding generally are adequate up to some postulated level of rain a heavier rain than that would still cause floods.

Geography can make refuges for some global heating effects, but some are not so limited. For instance, global heating effects are messing up agriculture. If (or when) there is a national or global shortage of food because of ruined harvests, you won't be able to escape that just by choosing the right neighborhood to live in.