Kansas City residents are warned to shelter inside as heart-stopping video shows massive tornado touching down and softball-sized hail raining down on the region

Kansas City residents have been warned to take shelter indoors as a dangerous storm with damaging winds unleashed baseball-sized hail in the area.

Heart-stopping videos emerging from across the Kansas City metro area capture softball-sized hail as the tornado touched down in north-central Kansas. 

The National Weather Service sent out multiple warnings on Wednesday evening, alerting residents of the severe thunderstorm expected to sweep across the region.

'Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Kansas City MO, Kansas City KS, and Liberty MO until 9.00 PM CDT. This destructive storm will contain large apple-sized hail!' the NWS Kansas City office wrote in one of the social media posts.

Sharing a storm video shot in the south of Alta Vista, Kansas, Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote: 'Storm is coming in the direction of Kansas City and the surrounding areas. Be safe! 

Kansas City residents have been warned to take shelter indoors as a dangerous storm with damaging winds unleashed baseball-sized hail in the area

The National Weather Service sent out multiple warnings on Wednesday evening, alerting residents of the severe thunderstorm expected to sweep across the region

Heart-stopping videos emerging from across the Kansas City metro area capture softball-sized hail as the tornado touched down in north-central Kansas 

The destructive storm, with winds of 60 to 70 mph, is expected to continue overnight and redevelop on Thursday afternoon, according to the Kansas City Star.

Dozens of counties in Kansas and Missouri remain under a Tornado Watch until 1:00am local time, according to the NWS. 

Heavy downpours accompanied multiple damaging storms could lead to flash flooding as well, the weather service said. 

'Even with drought conditions, rapid rainfall rates could lead to Flash Flooding,' the service wrote. 

The thunderstorms developed sometime between 5:00pm and 7:00pm on Wednesday, growing rapidly and soon expanding from north-central and northeast Kansas to the Kansas City area.

By 10:00pm, residents across the state had taken to social media to share images of the large hail that the thunderstorms unleashed in their backyards, on rooftops, and vehicles.

Some social media users also shared videos of broken windows and rooftops on houses. 

Cathy Rocco, a resident of Shawnee, reported seeing a massive hailstone fall in her backyard, as she said, 'I watched this one bounce in my backyard and had to run out and get it.' 

Even experienced storm chasers were shocked by the scale of cone tornados in the area, as Kannon Kalton wrote, 'This Storm was a BEAST!'

The destructive storm, with winds of 60 to 70 mph, is expected to continue overnight and redevelop on Thursday afternoon, according to the Kansas City Star

By 10:00pm, residents across the state had taken to social media to share images of the large hail that the thunderstorms unleashed in their backyards, on rooftops, and vehicles

The thunderstorms developed sometime between 5:00pm and 7:00pm on Wednesday, growing rapidly and soon expanding from north-central and northeast Kansas to the Kansas City area

'It still appears the greatest concentration of severe risk will be across northeast Kansas into northwestern Missouri within the 'Enhanced' Risk.' the Storm Prediction Center said.

'But eastward increased-risk adjustments have otherwise been made across eastern Missouri,' the center added. 

Frequent lightning, small hail, gusty winds and very heavy rainfall are expected overnight as the storms continue to linger. 

FOX meteorologist Warren Sears explained that the activity started super isolated, but storms grew in strength rapidly, adding, 'the severe risk for the Kansas City metro should diminish as you are heading to bed. 

'As the warm front continues to lift north, it will give ample moisture to the atmosphere. This means any isolated supercells will continue to grow into a line by the end of the evening across northern Missouri,' he wrote. 

'Those in northern Missouri need to watch out for some flash flooding with this event as we push into the overnight. A couple inches of rain are possible up in that part of the state.'