Yeah the synoptic setup that dumped all that rain in the mountains followed by a hurricane was some serious bad luck. And then Helene tracked a bit east of projections and went straight over the area in western NC that had the worst of round 1.
I can't even imagine how f***ed the Tampa area is if they ever take a direct landfall. Billions of dollars in surge damage from a storm that barely clipped them with outer bands.
I guess Tropical Storms can be very unpredictable. I went to sleep not expecting any t'storms (SPC almost doesn't have us in a convective outlook) and Ashland ended up in a Tornado Warning and Severe Thunderstorm Warning in the last 30 minutes. Some wind gusts have been making a mess around the neighborhood but we still have power at least.