When it rains, a column of rain falls and the water drains away into holes in the floor.

BBC: A perfect day in Rome

Rain falls free, but someone has to spend money and deploy skills in getting it to the tap, and removing it in a sewer.

ECONOMIST: Third-world water and the private sector

The heavens open and rain falls like Niagara.

BBC: Postcard from Southeast Sicily

While southern California is a dry Mediterranean climate, one the highest rain falls in North America was recorded in the San Gabriel River watershed in 1943, at staggering 26.12 inches fell in 24 hours at Hoegees Camp.

FORBES: Why Fukushima and Bear Stearns Are the Same Mistake

The sulfur dioxide and soot thrown off results not only in a polluted atmosphere but also acid rain that falls on a third of China's cities.

FORBES: Pollution And Prosperity

Yes, we did endure a couple of bouts of rain, causing our local fixer to eat her shoe after promising that rain never falls in Istanbul in July.

BBC: Producer's Diary: Istanbul

Springwater is trapped by the terraces, and then evaporates, forms clouds and falls again as rain higher up the mountain.

BBC: The perfect trip: China

Caravan parks and villages near Aberystwyth were inundated by floodwater when twice as much rain fell in 24 hours than normally falls in the area in the whole of June.

BBC: A sofa is put into the back of a rubbish truck