"It is really a timely rain as it not only drove away the muggy weather bothered us for a week, but more importantly, it gave a break to the serious drought situation, especially in rural Beijing," an official with the municipal flood and drought control office was quoted as saying by Sunday's Beijing Daily.

Besides a huge drop of temperature to more than 10 degrees of Celsius, the rain had also brought Beijing 4 million cubic meters of water by 8 PM Saturday and only the Miyun Reservoir, the largest of the kind in Beijing, had been infused with 3 million cubic meters, according to the office.

Although the average precipitation reached 61 millimeters, the rain has not caused serious damages to the residents.

"Some old houses suffered from rain leakage and some low-lying residential areas were also bothered by water logging after the rain," said the official.

In addition, the city's traffic were little affected by the rain and main avenues and the ring roads were in a normal operation, said the official.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2005)