"We didn't really expect it": Cleaning up after late summer hail storm
RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- River Falls was hit hard with massive baseball-sized hail. There's anything from dents and dings to shattered windshields on some cars that were parked outside during Tuesday's storms.
While it's not the first time the area has been hit with hail in recent months, homeowners hope it's the last.
"There were people playing bingo and somebody came in with a hail ball and it filled his hand," resident Dennis said.
He came out and saw his car took a big hit. The driver's side window was gone. Then he found more damage to the side of his home.
"Pretty much everybody out here is up on the roof seeing what kind of damage they have," he said.
Dennis said his insurance warned him it could take a week or so before he can get into the shop to get his car fixed, just because so many other people are trying to do the same.
Contractors like Hans Tapp spent the day marking roofs and putting up tarps.
"It's been one thing after another after another," Tapp, of Contractor Excel Exteriors, said. "For this area, it's about as sizable as you are going to get, especially for this late in the season. We didn't really expect it."
In Lake Elmo, Minnesota, it was a nerve-wracking night.
"We were kind of winding down from winter finishing up all the jobs from that may storm that came through here, and this kind of came out of nowhere," Tara Hollerich said.
She just got her car fixed after a damaging storm in May. Meanwhile, the hail caused damage to almost all roofs in the neighborhood.
"I think almost everyone has gotten a new roof already so hopefully they don't have to get another one," Ryan Knudson said.
After this summer's damaging hail storms, the end of the summer season is welcomed.
