Jinan, capital city of east China's Shandong Province, was drenched with a record-breaking rainfall since Sunday, which was the biggest one in the autumn during the past 54 years, said the city meteorologic observatory Tuesday.

The unremitting rain, with a precipitation of more than 170 mm, set a new record since the city established its weather records in1951.

The observatory said it was very rare to see a rainfall exceeding 100 mm in the autumn in Jinan. The only exception occurred in the autumn of 1964, when the precipitation reached 102.3 mm.

Experts attributed the heavy rainfall to the joint effects by subtropical high air pressures and currents of warm air from the southwest Pacific.

Local government said no casualty had been reported as of Tuesday afternoon but the heavy rain caused traffic jams on the city's main roads and it also seriously challenged the city's drainage system.

The heaviest rainfall that struck Jinan occurred in 1994's summer with a precipitation of 188 mm and the observatory said this is the second largest one on the city's weather record.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2005)