Meaning: Water was dropping from the clouds in a heavy manner.
Choice of Words:Rain is water falling in drops from clouds, and fell means to move downward freely.
Alternative Expressions
The rain was coming down hard.
Meaning: This means that the rain was falling heavily from the sky.
Choice of Words:Rain is the moisture that falls from the sky. Was coming is the past continuous tense of the verb come, which means to move towards a place. Down means from a higher to a lower place. Hard means with a lot of force. When you put them together, "The rain was coming down hard" means that the rain was falling from the sky with a lot of force.
It was raining cats and dogs.
Meaning: This is a fun way to say that it was raining very hard.
Choice of Words:Raining is the present continuous tense of the verb rain, which means to fall as moisture from the sky. Cats and dogs are common household pets. When you put them together, "It was raining cats and dogs" is an idiom that means it was raining very heavily.