If one were talking about 5 inches of water, then I might consider this point.

However, paving or no paving, the reality is that 5 feet of water is not going to be absorbed like baby's urine in a Pampers absorbent diaper... time for folks to give their head a shake.  As for these armchair critics, mindlessly mouthing off on this topic, without acknowledging the colossal and unprecedented amount of rain we're talking about, it almost makes me wish that a similar disaster would befall them.