A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service on Saturday at 7:50 p.m. in effect until 8:30 p.m. for Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne and Talladega counties.

Jeff Smitherman, the director of an Alabama emergency management agency, joins ABC News live to discuss the high-risk alert for potential tornado outbreaks in Alabama and Mississippi.

WVTM 13 meteorologists are tracking a severe weather outbreak in Alabama Saturday with the chance of tornadoes, hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.

Jim Coker, with emergency management in Alabama's Jefferson County, urges safety and preparedness with severe weather barreling toward Alabama.

At least 18 people are dead after severe weather hit parts of Missouri, Texas and Arkansas overnight, officials said. Eleven storm-related fatalities were reported in the Missouri counties of Ozark, Butler,

At least 12 fatalities have been reported in Missouri, according to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

Thousands of power outages were reported Saturday as a deadly severe weather outbreak moved across the Midwest and South.