At mid-afternoon Saturday, Panola County appeared to have avoided serious damage from violent storms raking the mid-south.

The county was under two tornado warnings at noon Friday as shortly before noon radar indicated a tornado near Belen in Quitman County. The path of the thunderstorm system producing the tornado placed northwestern Panola County under warning. Minutes later, the radar sighting of another tornado formation 14 miles southwest of Batesville place Batesville under warning as well as Sardis. However, no tornados were reported to have touched down in the county as the storm system moved northeast. Damage was limited to downed tree limbs and local flooding, preliminary reports indicate.

In Batesville, street flooding on Thomas Street, Perkins Lane and Highway 35 near the Highway 51 overpass was reported. Police briefly closed Thomas Street to prevent wakes created by passing vehicles from pushing excess water into Smith Cleaners.

Rain continues at intervals in squalls during early afternoon. More serious flooding was occurring in Memphis and throughout western Tennessee where some locations were reporting as much as 12 inches of rainfall in less than 12 hours.

Forecasters are warning of another severe outbreak of tornadoes Saturday night. Accuweather.com has included north Mississippi in an area favorable for tornado development along with northern Louisiana, eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, the Missouri bootheel and southwestern Kentucky in the watch zone. Strong thunderstorms with potential for additional flooding are also forecast.