Why was Ida so devastating as it flooded the Northeast?

By MALLIKA SEN and SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Many people are asking why no one foretold of the deadly ramifications of Hurricane Ida’s remnants in the Northeast, but some did. The National Hurricane Center on Tuesday increased the urgency of the warnings. It heralded the potential for “significant and life-threatening flash flooding” and river flooding throughout the region. Even so, the news conferences and loud warnings from public officials that accompanied storms like Sandy in 2012 or even last month’s Henri were mostly absent until the brunt of Ida was upon the region. So, how did something like this happen? A lot of it boils down to outdated infrastructure and climate change.