The crew must have seen the heavy rain on radar over the field, so do they really need ATC to tell them it's wet? I appreciate in this instance ATC didn't give the information they should have, but that is not an unusual circumstance - I get that all the time and I'm pretty sure I'm not unique! There are far too any pilots these days (and other professions) hiding behind manuals and what "others" tell them to do, not using their own eyes and ears and piecing together the big picture of what is happening around them. Even on a grooved runway with a head wind, I'll go flap 40 if I know there's a lot of rain unless windshear makes flap 30 safer. Tell me I'm not in a minority that can think these things through!