PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. -- Intense storms that prompted multiple severe thunderstorm warnings for parts of Central Virginia Friday afternoon into the evening led to downed trees, power outages and even emergency lane repair for parts of Interstate 95.
The CBS 6 Weather Authority forecast the storms to be strong to severe with some hail and gusty winds, especially in the 2-5 p.m. time frame.
"I haven't seen nothing with winds this bad and that quick in a long time," said Austin, who lives in Prince George.
He recalled being awakened by the sound of heavy rain and hail hitting his home.
"It sounded like complete gunfire going off," he said.
Once the storm was over and he was able to go outside, Austin said he realized just how powerful the storm was.
"We have a couple holes on the siding from the hail, the car was damaged, the trunk," he said.
A large tree branch fell on the trunk of his car and its limbs completely covered a friend's car.
"There's two cars here, but one is hidden," Austin described.
Jaelyn Furey, who lives in Colonial Heights, said the storm moved in quickly and caused a huge tree to fall on her house.
"Praying that there’s not a lot of house damaged, but thankful that when we saw it, it didn’t go through the house," Furey said.
RELATED: A look at damage reports from Friday storms in Virginia
"Look at the huge area here of storm reports, hail reports, wind reports and even a tornado down in Hampton Roads," CBS 6 Chief Meteorologist Zach Daniel said.
A similar account coming from resident Gary Bonner in Chesterfield.
"The wind started picking up, and all of a sudden a big clap of thunder hit and that was it," Bonner said. "I saw the trucks out there trying to clean the road and that's when I came out and saw I had a big tree across my yard."
Bronner said it will take time to clean up from the storm. But he is grateful no one was injured.
"My driveway is good, my house is good," Bronner said. "Nobody was hurt, so I was very happy that everything ended up OK."
According to Dominion Energy's website, more than 17,700+ customers were without power as of 10:30 p.m. Friday. That included 9,197 in Petersburg, 4,784 in Colonial Heights and 2,499 in Chesterfield. That number was down to 11,700+ customers as of 7:45 a.m. Saturday with 4,388 in Petersburg, 4,771 in Colonial Heights and 1,173 in Chesterfield.
Click here to report an outage or damaged wires. You can also call 1-866-366-4357 or 1-866-366-4357 for downed wires and damaged equipment.
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Storm prompts emergency repairs, closes lanes on I-95
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