The storm could have tracked a few miles away and the river could not have flooded.
Not like this but here are a few instances just in my neighborhood. A few months ago, I am coming from the supermarket about 2 miles away. It was raining so hard, the wipers were of almost no use. I was going to pul of the main road into my street and pull over. The instant I turned onto my street,thee rain stopped and the pavement was dry. I don't mean damp, I mean bone dry. Ran into my house from the drive so I didn't get soaked. Didn't rain at my houseuntil about 8 hours later.
In the blizzard of 2014 we got 7 feet. The town hall under 1 ½ mile away got less than 6 inches.