While Beijing enjoyed a rare cool July with 27 days of rain, residents are upset with an inadequate drainage system that causes traffic jams when it pours.

The airport expressway was forced to close on Monday for the first time in 10 years when the Chinese capital experienced its heaviest rain this summer. The water level on the expressway under the Yingbin overpass was a meter and a half deep causing a 15 kilometer-long traffic jam.

The expressway finally opened after workers pumped water for three and a half hours. The roadway was closed for the same reason in 1996.

Sources with the Beijing airport said 109 incoming and 143 outgoing flights were delayed and seven flights were cancelled. Vehicles arriving at the airport were directed onto the airport's southern apron to avoid a flooded road.

A highway in the city's Fengtai district became a parking lot on Monday when it became flooded.

Beijing traffic police received 335 accident calls and 156 calls reporting traffic jams on Monday, even though many police officers were in the pouring rain directing traffic. INADEQUATE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

"The drainage system of Beijing is incomplete. Beijing has been developing so fast in recent years and some areas were not planned properly," said Qi Jingjun, an official with the Beijing Water Authority.

He cited the area around Beijing's 98-kilometer-long fifth ring road which was built in the former rural outskirts. "It needs time to come up with all the infrastructure including drainage."

Wang Yi, chief engineer with the Beijing flood control and drought relief headquarters, said the city did not pay enough attention to its drainage system when designing buildings and projects.

"More than 80 percent of land in the city is impermeable allowing surface water to accumulate and pool in low areas," Wang said.

However, Qi Jingjun also said the heavy downpours over the past few days would have been too much for an adequate drainage system to handle.

Frequent rain since June has eased the drought that has troubled Beijing since 1999, but water authorities have warned against over-optimism and said it was still too early to say the drought was coming to an end.

The Miyun Reservoir, the largest storage facility in northern China and the city's main source of water, has risen by 176.57 million cubic meters of water since the beginning of the flood season in June.

"We still have to wait until the season ends in August to see whether the drought has ended," said a water official.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2006)