RALEIGH, N.C. — Six people received minor injuries and thousands were without power Sunday when high winds hit eastern North Carolina communities after tornado warnings were issued.

Six people received minor injuries after winds destroyed 10 to 20 structures in the Belgrade and Maysville communities about 6:45 p.m. on the Jones-Onslow county line after a tornado warning was issued, said Patty McQuillan of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

"Apparently, one woman gave birth during the storm," McQuillan said.

An estimated 5,200 people were without power in Bertie, Hertford, Camden, Currituck, Jones and Onslow counties, McQuillan said.

The state Department of Transportation was called to remove debris on U.S. 17. Belgrade and Maysville are on the highway between Jacksonville and New Bern.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown told the Daily News of Jacksonville that a store was demolished in Maysville.

Josh Reinijer was traveling on U.S. 17 and said he saw "sheet metal dangling from power lines, wood and debris everywhere, There was one house with a piece of sheet metal that went through the window of their house."

Tornado warnings were issued most of the afternoon across North Carolina as part of the system that had caused havoc and fatalities in the Plains and South swept North Carolina and headed to Virginia or the Atlantic Ocean.

McQuillan said the state emergency operations center also had reports of numerous trees down in Aulander and Lewiston in Bertie County.

Observers across the state reported hail ranging from the size of a penny to a quarter, the weather service said.