Video and photos show hail covering central Minnesota amid storms; thousands of people without power

Hail pelted several central Minnesota communities as storms rolled through on Friday afternoon and evening.

A large area of the region was under either a severe thunderstorm warning during the late afternoon or early evening, and several communities were under a tornado warning. 

In Fridley, several vehicles stopped on the side of Interstate 694 as hail came down onto the roadway. 

A pile of hailstones buried a lawn chair in Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Residents in Waite Park were picking up handfuls of hail after storms moved through the Stearns County community.

Hail pellets fell onto a car parked in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, on Friday.

Xcel Energy says thousands of people are without power following the storms. As of 8:07 p.m. Friday, over 23,000 people do not have service, according to the company's online outage map.

Utility crews are working to restore power to those impacted.