quotations - Is it still a metaphor if you say "if X was Y" first?

Although I would still argue that similes are metaphors, here's what Fowler says in Modern English usage:

"It cannot be said that every simile is a metaphor, and vice versa; it is rather that every metaphor presupposes a simile, and every simile is compressible or convertible into a metaphor. There is a formal line of demarcation; the simile is known by its 'as' or 'like' or other announcement of conscious comparison...."

In the original sentence above, "if people were rain" announces a conscious comparison, which makes what follows a simile.