HAIL!

The craziest hail storm hit us Thursday night (the 26th).  I have never experienced anything like it before and hope that I never will again!  Lennard was out helping a family in our ward move, so I was home alone with the kids.  I was downstairs and when I heard a loud crash, I raced upstairs to see what was going on.  Within minutes the front lawn was white with HUGE hail stones.  The noise was deafening and more than a little scary.  When I got back downstairs, Emma was sitting on the couch with her lip quivering and, as soon as she saw me, she started to cry.  I gathered her up onto my lap and got her calmed down, while Ben continued to play with his toys.  He wasn’t bothered with the storm at all!  I talked to Lennard a number of times on the phone while I watched the hail stones explode as they hit the ground.  Once the hail stopped, Lennard was able to get home, change and then head out again to assess the damage to the power lines.  Since he was out, I went out to assess the damage to our belongings.  We have major damage to the roof of our tent trailer (that we’ve been trying to sell).  The roof vent is completely broken out and the battery box has holes in it.  There is also damage to our roof, roof vents, eavestrophing, siding, barbeque, garden, and a bunch of the kid’s toys.  Both vehicles are dented all over and the windshields smashed.  I think it’s going to be an interesting year for insurance companies.  I hope we can get enough to replace everything that’s been wrecked.

 Our backyard.  Amazingly, the glass patio furniture survived the onslaught!

Just one of the hail stones.

 Our 'new' roof...

Lovely eavestrophing... that will now need replacing...

 Both vehicles are totalled.

The vent on the tent trailer.



Here's a video of the damage around town:

Southern Alberta pounded by hail | Calgary