The momentum of Hector’s chariot, as he is driving away from the ships, is compared to the flooding caused by a violent rainstorm stirred up by Zeus against the unrighteous. Since Patroklos had effectively ‘quenched’ the fire that had threatened the beached ships of the Achaeans, I.16.293, the comparing of his success against the fleeing Trojans to a cataclysmic rainstorm stirred up by Zeus is all the more appropriate.