Why do you think North Carolina and Tennessee got the brunt of the damage of Helene instead of Florida where it made landfall as a Cat 4 storm?

[smahala1991]

As a lifelong resident of both Tennessee and NC, usually when we get any remnants of a hurricane or tropical storm, it fizzles out quickly, but it looks like this time we took a more direct hit. Usually hurricanes or tropical storms aren't this devastating this far inland. we're we just not prepared?

[MisterWack]

The storms are getting stronger as the climate change continues to increase. This was the hottest summer on record, last summer was the hottest summer on record…. It keeps getting hotter and humans keep making it worse. No one could have foreseen the wildfires, air quality alerts, tornados in places that hadn’t dealt with tornados, flooding in places where drought was more prevalent, droughts where places used to have water, and more. This is the truth and people need to keep their families safe by learning the facts. This is only going to get worse.

[noohair]

Florida has spent many years preparing for these storms. The state is relatively flat so the storm passes over. We manage flooding well as many canals are here to manage water. When you get hurricane type rain in the mountain regions of other stated, flooding washes things away. I have been in Florida for many years and experienced some severe storms. Andrew is one. I am shocked by what I have seen in western North Carolina.

[avery58]

You'd be surprised, everyone thinks living in Florida is dangerous because of hurricanes but as a Floridian I never experienced a bad hurricane in my life.

[Massageman]

From what I had heard, there was a blocking cold front, stopping Helene from moving past an area that ALREADY had a lot of rainfall.

Overall, the Smokies acted very much like a wall, having the water dump to the east of them on NC, then the counter-clockwise moving rains hopped up over the mountains clearing Knoxville area for a large part, and then dropping back down to wet TN in mid-state.

[normalice]

Florida has endured dozens of hurricanes and so built to withstand it. NC and TN are too far inland to even consider the possibility of getting hit with a hurricane so there was no effort to be resilient to then when their structures were built.

[exitseven]

I think Florida is more prepared because they have more experience with hurricanes.

[strateguy632]

Due to climate change, change! J. k.

Due to flooding.

[zagor]

When it got to higher elevations it dumped rain and slowed down. Most damage was from flooding, not wind.

[Dargil]

Because of...WEATHER.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Maybe Koko B. Ware (Union City, Tenn.) and/or Ric Flair (Charlotte, N. C.) threatened to give Helene the Ghostbuster (Ware!!!) or the Figure Four Leglock ( Flair!!!)

[onedarkcloud]

And sorry to say help from Senile Joe And Scamala will be a long time in coming if it comes at all. The illegals come first.

[msc545]

I think it might be because people in Florida are more accustomed to severe storms and build accordingly.

[BoopBoopBeep]

I think you're right. Topography, too. Florida is flatter. Waterfalls and disperses. There are a lot of valleys in the affected region where water from the mountains concentrates. More trees as well. Once the ground is oversaturated, those come down much easier. My mom lost a great oak that way in a prior hurricane. When it fell it took out the fences of her, her next door neighbor, the neighbor on the other side of them, half her garage... tree was about 4 feet across at the base. Still had the leaves on it though, so they served as a sail for the winds. When the soil became mush from a week of heavy rain it came down. Knocked the pictures off her wall and rattled the dishes in the cabinet it hit the ground so hard.

[msc545]

@BoopBoopBeep Wow! Glad she was unharmed!

[BoopBoopBeep]

Yeah that could have gone super south if that had gone 90 degrees to the south. I had the tree milled, planed and dried. Going to make wainscoting out of it. Maybe a new dining table.

[msc545]

@BoopBoopBeep It sounds like it will be very nice. Send pics, please!

[BoopBoopBeep]

@msc545 Sure thing! Gotta figure out how and when to get it shipped out here. Going to take the better part of an 18-wheeler and I'm not sure where I'm going to store that before retirement, which sadly is still a ways off probably.

[msc545]

@BoopBoopBeep Maybe cut it up a bit before shipping it?

[BoopBoopBeep]

Well I wanted to keep the planks at the 10foot lengths they were cut at so they could run floor to ceiling, and I can't rip them because then that'd defeat the look of full grain, even if I numbered and matched them, because that seam is always going to be there. There's quite a number of 2-by- lumber and some 4x4 and 8x8 planks. It's just under 3 tons of wood, so I'm not exactly going to just fedex it out on a pallet, and until I get home full time there's no place to store it here. My mom's got her own lumbaryard in the back behind her garage (to go with her woodworking) from various semi-exotics she's collected over the years from various projects. she's got 2 tons of white oak she offered to split with me but that's mainly planed thinner for shelves or cabinets or whatnot

When she's flown out for smaller projects (and when prices were lower) I'd send a pallet out here ahead of her and we'd do the staircase or library built-ins when she arrived, but this is way more than a pallet and she's better equipped to store it long term than I am.

[BoopBoopBeep]

4x4 and 8x8 POSTS, not planks... stupid non-edit G@G... oh and @msc545
for that last one.

It's my first day here I guess..

[msc545]

@BoopBoopBeep Sounds great- and a lot of work!

[BoopBoopBeep]

@msc545
Yep... figure it'll be a great first project after retirement thing. Fly her out here. I'll be HER helper. Good as I am, she's still got 30 years experience on me.

[msc545]

@BoopBoopBeep There it is for sure. I really want to see the finished product (s)!

[captain_voidwalker]

Both areas had like 11 inches of rain before the hurricane hit so it was like a flood plus hurricane

[paledreams]

Hard to explain, weather is a weird beast.

[OtterMan68]

rainfall