EXPLAINER: How Ida can be so deadly 1000 miles from landfall

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

Meteorologists say natural and man-made forces made Ida deadly and devastating in the New York and New Jersey area even though the weakened storm made landfall more than 1,000 miles away.  Experts say the remnants of Hurricane Ida lacked high winds but it kept its wet core. Then Ida merged with a non-tropical storm, causing record rain to fall. The Northeast often gets extreme rain from hurricanes that made landfall far away. And more than 100 people died in Virginia after Hurricane Camille smacked Mississippi in 1969. Such storms carry more water because the air is warmer — and paved parking lots and streets result in increased run-off and flooding in urban areas.