I'm no geologist/gardener but I imagine that 80% of the issue is in ground type.
Redhill, which is about 4mi from where I live, is on clay. Thick, sticky, London clay. Holds water really well for growing things. Hold water really well for keeping runways closed.
If you had grass strips on a sandy soil type then I imagine that you'd only need a few hours between showers to allow drainage to occur.
The drainage scheme at Redhill was expensive, time consuming (and has left a couple of ridges that you don't want to hit on touchdown!) but has made an enormous difference to the performance of the ground after rain. Sadly, it means that we now only need a WEEK of dry rather than a MONTH after each burst of the wet stuff!
The runways are closed as I write
