The Thursday-morning hailstorms last week that pounded cars and rolled across North Texas could lead to $300 million in vehicle repairs alone.
Mark Hanna, a spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Texas, said that an estimated 50,000 vehicles were battered by the storms from Fort Worth to Arlington.
“This is a catastrophic event for us,” Hanna says in a Forth Worth Star-Telegram report of the hail, which fell in two occasions and varied from the size of blueberries to tennis balls.
The number of damaged roofs could be around one-third of the number of damaged vehicles, Hanna added, although the cost of their repair could be double that of the vehicles’.
Reports have it that insurance firm State Farm already received at least 3,850 car claims and 1,480 home claims. Last Sunday, it opened its vehicle assess sites to address the claims, and will open three more by the week’s end.
The storms left the streets with debris, leaves, and some remnants of damaged structures. Even the West Division headquarters of Fort Worth Police Department was not spared, just like the Fort Worth Zoo where eight birds and five flamingos were killed.
But there were also emerging winners from the damage, such as companies like Auto Glass Now – located in west Fort Worth off Interstate 30 – that already provided hundreds of estimates for affected windows. The weekend had also been likely been a lucrative one for AAA Glass, which worked on cars or replaced home windows.
Hail occurs when updrafts in thunderstorms become carriers of raindrops upward into very cold areas where they freeze into ice. Hail can damage not only structures but also livestock and crops.
Research focuses on accurate prediction and detection of hailstorms to give those who run in the path of the storm enough preparation time to seek shelter and protect their personal property.
