LINCOLN, Neb. - A tornado watch is in effect for Lancaster, Seward and Saline counties until 3 a.m. Thursday.

A large tornado bore through Hamilton County just after 9 p.m. Wednesday, and several other reports of severe weather came in from across Nebraska.

West of Aurora, in the path of the Hamilton County tornado, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed along Highway 34, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. That same tornado caused "significant house damage" in the area.

There were unconfirmed reports of significant damage to the Iams pet food plant just west of Aurora, according to Patrick Rooney, planning specialist with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. Hastings television station KHAS reported the roof was blown off the plant.

The Nebraska State Patrol in Grand Island reported several farmhouses damaged, power lines down and power outages in the Aurora area. The Southern Nebraska Public Power District, which serves Hamilton County, reported about 80 calls concerning power outages to its Grand Island office.

"Lots of debris and that sort of thing," said April Stanick, a state patrol dispatcher.

Doug Shaw, an Aurora insurance agent, said Aurora itself appeared to have dodged the tornado bullet once again. A year ago, when a tornado caused major damage south of the city, Aurora was spared.

Shaw said it had been a long time since he saw a funnel cloud. But as he looked west from his son's house Wednesday night, he saw what he described as "your classic funnel. I thought, 'Here we go.'" It appeared headed straight for the center of the city, "right down (U.S.) 34."

But then the tornado "veered off" and missed the Aurora.

Counties along the Nebraska-Kansas border began dealing with hail, strong winds and rain by early Wednesday afternoon. The weather service said golf ball-size hail was reported in several locations across southern Jefferson County.

Mark Meints said he'd never been in a hail storm like the one he encountered as part of his job Wednesday afternoon near Odell.

"It hailed straight for 45 minutes. We couldn't drive out of it," said Meints, the emergency management director for Gage County.

Meints said some of the stones were as large as softballs, and they were being driven by winds up to 60 or 70 mph.

Then there was the rain - 2 inches in half an hour. And Meints said at least one tornado touched down briefly between Odell and nearby Hanover, Kan. It was either big or there were two funnels, Meints said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. The rain and the hail made it hard to tell for sure.

Meints said the damage to crops and vehicles along the Nebraska-Kansas border was caused by the hail, not the tornado or tornadoes.

The hail damaged his emergency management vehicle and smashed the windshield of an Odell volunteer fire department rescue vehicle as the volunteer storm spotters scanned the skies for funnels.

By 6 p.m., the northernmost counties were getting what the southern counties got earlier. Near Naper, in Boyd County, baseball-size hail fell for 10 minutes and covered the ground. The ground was also white with hail northeast of Columbus.

In Buffalo County, a weather service employee said a tornado touched down briefly 12 miles northwest of Gibbon.

In Cherry County, the weather service warned just before 6 p.m., "continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring," along with large hail and damaging winds.