Cancun, Mexico - The torrential rains that fell in the last few hours in the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, brought on by a tropical wave, abruptly halted outdoor tourist activities, caused ports to be closed to small boats and flooded much of the state.

Municipal authorities on Monday launched Operation Storm to activate contingency plans for flooded areas and safeguard those living in vulnerable districts.

Maritime authorities stopped the sailing of small boats throughout the Mexican Caribbean as a preventive measure and hoisted red flags to warn bathers of the risk of powerful waves.

The heavy rains and high winds brought on by the tropical wave began Saturday afternoon.

Authorities say 15 people in northeastern Nigeria have died from lightning strikes after strong thunderstorms swept through the region's rural pasturelands.

A spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday the deaths occured in Gombe and Yobe states, killing eight men, four women and three children Tuesday.

Nigeria is experiencing its annual rainy season, with storms sweeping through its tropical south and arid north. Floods already are affecting the country, causing some drowning deaths.

Saturday's bright sunny skies disappeared in the evening hours as a supercell thunderstorm grew in intensity and tracked southeast from northeastern Kimball County. The massive storm reportedly spawned several unconfirmed tornadoes and sporadically spit supersized hail onto property unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Numerous reports of large hail filtered into the National Weather Service, beginning with a 6:52 p.m. reported from Kimball County. Trained weather spotters 12 miles northeast of Kimball and also 19 miles southeast of Harrisburg reported golfball-sized hail falling for several minutes.

The slow-moving supercell continued to affect mainly rural parts of both Kimball and Cheyenne counties before passing over Potter around 7:30 p.m.

Heavy rains in Southeastern Ivory Coast have hurt the region's cocoa sector, hindering drying and fermenting operations and damaging key roads to market, farmers said.

The downpours come amid rising concern over bean quality in the world's top grower nation, after exporters said much of the 15,000 tonnes of beans arriving at ports last week was not suitable for shipment.

"It has rained too much. The roads are blocked, there are lots of floods and the farmers are having trouble working on the plantations," said Paul Essien, who farms near Aboisso, around 100 km (60 miles) east of Abidjan.

"We need lots of sun in July, otherwise the quality will degrade sharply and diseases will appear. We fear a decline in prices in the coming weeks," he said.

Some 203.2 millimetres of rain fell in the Aboisso region last week, according to meteorologist readings.

The wildfire that surrounds the nuclear lab in Los Alamos, N.M., has grown to at least 61,000 acres amid mounting concerns about what might be in the smoke that's visible from space.

Such fear has prompted fire crews to set their own fires along the perimeter of the lab. So far, the strategy is working. The first air samples show lots of smoke, but no signs of elevated radiation.

"Those results show that what we see in this fire is exactly what we see in any fire across New Mexico," said Charles McMillan, the lab's director.

Environmental officials aren't taking any chances. The Environmental Protection Agency is bringing in dozens of air monitors all around the state, along with a special airplane that takes instant radiation samples. So far, officials have not been able to find anything amiss.

"Our facilities and nuclear material are protected and safe," McMillan told ABC News.

Over-sized rats are taking up residence southwest of Brisbane at Goodna, as residents slowly move back into their flood-affected homes.

The Courier-Mail website was overwhelmed with comments from readers complaining of large rats creating havoc in homes from Caboolture and Narangba to the inner-city today.

Residents at Bellbowrie, Indooroopilly, Yeronga and Hendra also reported the number of rodents were on the increase.

Ipswich City Council plans to unleash a force of fox terriers and pest control council workers to stop the pests next week.

Goodna residents have complained rats "the size of possums" were nesting in their homes because of the cooler weather.

The situation is believed to be worse because many flood-affected homes are unoccupied.

Australian pest control service 1300 Pest Control CEO Paul Byres said the rats posed a real threat to homes in the area.

Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano's flanks.

No one has been injured, but one group of climbers fled as dust descended on their tent after a rockfall Saturday afternoon.

"From my standpoint of looking at the mountain for 20 years, we've probably had rockfalls like this once every five or 10 years," said Stefan Lofgren, lead climbing ranger for Mount Rainier National Park.

Since Friday, at least three major rockfalls and several smaller ones have sloughed off the rocky ridge called Nisqually Cleaver, at an elevation of about 12,800 feet. The one that let loose Saturday afternoon was the biggest.

At least 12 persons were killed in rain-related incidents as heavy to moderate rains lashed several parts of Uttar Pradesh since yesterday.

While nine presons were killed in Farukkhabad district in separate incidents of roof collapose, drowning and lightning, two persons were killed in Fatehpur and one in Jaunpur district of the state, official sources said here.

Four persons were killed when the roof of a house collapsed due to heavy rains in Gangapar area and two children were struck down by lightning at village Achara yesterday, they said.

In Fatehpur, two persons, including a 38-year-old woman, were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse triggered by heavy rains, the sources said.

A 16-yar-old girl was killed and three girls perished after being hit by lightning in Baksha area of Jaunpur district, they said.

Jhansi recorded the maximum rainfall of 39.6 mm followed by 35 mm at Fursatganj and 22 mm in Agra, Met office said.

In Lucknow, which recorded a rainfall of 6.8 mm, mercury dropped considerably and the maximum temprature was 31.4, six notches below normal, they said

Recent heavy rain is boosting the Missouri River another 6 to 8 feet - not enough for major trouble but a lesson in this summer's higher risk of flooding.

Saturday through Monday, thunderstorms dumped rain across central and eastern Missouri. Hardest hit was the St. Louis area, with 5 to 6 inches. Jefferson City and Columbia each had 2 inches.

The Missouri River already was at or near flood stage across the state because of record discharges from swollen flood control reservoirs in the upper Great Plains. The recent rain is pushing up the river from Jefferson City to St. Charles, where a crest 5 feet over flood stage is expected Saturday.

That won't quite be enough to flood St. Charles' Frontier Park, but the city is moving Riverfest, the July 4 festival, to nearby Riverside Drive and some adjoining parking lots. A spokeswoman said heavy rain made the park too muddy for carnival rides and other activities.

Wes Browning, chief of the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring, said the Missouri's rise underscores the warning of a greater chance of major flooding on the river this summer. The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the reservoirs upriver, has said it must discharge water at a record rate through August because of heavy snowmelt and record springtime rain in Montana and the Dakotas.

Said Browning, "When we get concentrated bursts of rain like this, the river will quickly go up."

The upriver discharges have topped a few levees upstream of Kansas City and inspired widespread grumbling over Army corps policies. The Missouri at St. Charles is expected to run at least 9 to 14 feet higher than normal for most of the summer.

Residents fled in terror today from a block of flats that was set on fire by a bolt of lightning as storms caused chaos across Britain.

The building in Bermondsey, south-east London, was struck at around 2pm - the same time as a control tower at Gatwick Airport was hit, forcing flights to be suspended.

Meanwhile, a teaching assistant escaped unhurt after he was knocked to the ground by a lightning strike at his primary school today.

And tennis fans at Wimbledon were swamped by heavy rain - as were spectators watching the England vs Sri Lanka cricket match at the Oval.

Lightning also hit railway signals, causing serious delays to train services around the South East. It came after 33c heat yesterday also caused problems on the tracks.