It was a close call, but Jefferson County and western Blount County appear to have largely escaped any ill effects from Saturday’s bad weather.

Though a tornado watch for metro Birmingham remained in effect until 9 p.m., most severe weather moved to the north and west of the area. The closest problem area was Cullman and Walker counties, which went under a tornado warning at 6:30 p.m. because of an indication of a possible tornado on weather radar. Cullman County’ Emergency Management Agency then reported a tornado on the ground near the community of Welti, about seven miles north of Hanceville. Damage was reported near White City, and on U.S. Highway 31 north of Hanceville. A tornado was also spotted in Marshall County near Arab, possibly from the same storm that hit Welti.

The metro area dealt with scattered flooding as the result of heavy rain. Irondale, Fairfield and Tarrant suffered the most flooding problems.

But parts of Mississippi and Louisiana were not as fortunate. A long-track tornado began its path near Tallula, La., across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg. The tornado continued through central Mississippi, with heavy damage in the Yazoo City area. The storm continued on toward Starkville, with scattered reports of damage, but finally lost strength when it encountered cooler air in northwest Alabama. Mississippi disaster officials reported at least ten fatalities from the tornado through Saturday evening.

Scattered storm cells continue to move from central Mississippi into west Alabama through the late afternoon.

NASCAR called off all of Saturday’s events at Talladega Superspeedway, including the Nationwide Series Aaron’s 312 race. That race will be held after Sunday’s main event, the Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499.

The first wave of storms produced an unconfirmed tornado near Demopolis, doing some damage at the city’s public landing on the Tombigbee River.