system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5 Why does water from a hurricane stay present for so long and not just flow back into the ocean?
gpt
it takes time for water to flow, in part because it would flow back through areas that are also flooded, so that water would need to flow back first. 

Water flows in fast because hurricane winds are pushing it. It flows back slowly because it flows "downhill", which is very slow indeed if the area is flat.

it also forms puddles and ponds in whatever depressions there are in the ground.