The Swannanoa River at Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, has reached flood levels not seen since 1791 after Hurricane Helene brought torrential rains to the area.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Helene made landfall late Thursday evening about 10 miles west of Perry, Florida. At the time, the storm was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of about 140 miles per hour. The storm brought life-threatening storm surge, devastating winds and torrential rain to the area, resulting in excessive flooding in several Florida cities. Seventeen people died from the storm, the Associated Press reported.

The storm moved quickly through the Sunshine State and is now a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 35 miles per hour over Kentucky. After reaching the mainland and moving further inland, the massive storm caused severe flooding across North Carolina.

In Asheville, the rains were so heavy that the Swannanoa River rose from 19 feet to 26.6 feet after about 20 hours. The river, currently 10 feet above the level required to reach major flood stage, has not exceeded 26 feet since 1791.

“Record flood stage. This stage last occurred in April 1791, according to Tennessee Valley Authority records. Catastrophic flooding of the Swannanoa River Valley is likely,” the National Water Prediction Service posted on the river gauge website.

Severe river flooding is causing “extensive flooding of structures and roads,” the website says. “Significant evacuations of people and/or relocation of property to higher ground.”

Newsweek contacted the National Weather Service (NWS) Greenville-Spartanburg office by phone for comment.

Based on the gauge, the river appears to have reached its peak and its level is expected to begin falling soon. The river was expected to fall below mean flood stage by Saturday morning, with levels continuing to fall until falling below action level early Sunday morning.

A flash flood warning issued by the NWS said that “flooding impacts will continue, but little to no additional precipitation is expected.”

The warning added that locations where flooding is expected include downtown Asheville, East Asheville, Arden, West Asheville, North Asheville, Black Mountain, Mills River, Woodfin, Fletcher, Swannanoa, Weaverville, Fairview in Buncombe County, Biltmore Forest, Bent Creek and UNC-Asheville include , BR Parkway-Nc Arboretum to East Asheville, Warren Wilson College, BR Parkway-East Asheville to Craggy Gardens, Skyland and Biltmore Park.

Videos and photos were shared on social media showing streets, homes and businesses in Asheville completely submerged by floodwaters.

The extreme flooding came as AccuWeather forecasters warned that some North Carolina cities are expected to receive 10 times the monthly rainfall. According to the NWS Weather Prediction Center, Asheville received 13.15 inches of rain Friday afternoon. The monthly average is 3.81 inches.

Meanwhile, the rains were so catastrophic that there were immediate evacuations in Rutherford County out of fear that the Lake Lure Dam would soon fail.