As stated by justDave2010...
I think the basic issues were, the aproach lights were out and hadn't been fixed because of the officials' incompetence, and the runway was dark and wet because of extremely heavy rain. If you were driving in that rain you couldn't see a foot in front of your car.
It was that heavy, i'm not a pilot, but I think that would affect visibility.
Part of flight training is to conduct approaches to airports without visual cues. So with that being said, approach lights would not make a difference as their are runway lights running the entire length of the usable surface.
Irrespective of visual cues, an operating glide slope will provide a proper descent profile to the runway threshold so landing can be accomplished within the specified touchdown zone.