Temp Tables Not Dropped On Batch-terminating Error

If a stored procedure creates a temporary table and then has a batch-terminating error -- either a fatal error or a non-fatal error in "xact_abort on" mode -- the temp table does not get dropped even though it goes out of scope:


create proc px as

create table #z(z1 int primary key)

insert #z values ('x')

go

exec px

go

select * from tempdb.sys.tables where name like '#z%' --returns row for #z

drop table #z --fails because #z out of scope


or:


create proc px as

set xact_abort on

create table #z(z1 int primary key)

insert #z values (0)

insert #z values (0)

go

exec px

go

select * from tempdb.sys.tables where name like '#z%' --returns row for #z

drop table #z --fails because #z out of scope

Is this behavior by design? It does not appear to be documented properly if so, since BOL states that "Temporary tables are automatically dropped when they go out of scope".

In any case, is there a way to delete leftover temp tables from tempdb without restarting SQL Server?

Thanks,
Ron