Heavy downpours and ways to tackle them

The Beijing municipal government did a much better job of dealing with last week's rainstorm than it had done during the deluge four years ago. For instance, it sent out warnings to Beijing residents via SMS in time, as well as pressed enough police and emergency rescue personnel into service to help those in need.

But there is still room for improvement not only in Beijing but also in other Chinese cities. Some neighborhoods and streets were reportedly flooded in Beijing last week, and even though the waterlogging didn't pose a threat to people's lives, it still caused inconvenience to residents.

City administrations need to improve their planning. Some cities have already adopted some detailed measures to effectively curb waterlogging.