'Could have been way worse' | Kerrville residents recall destructive hailstorms impacting churches, cars and appliance stores

KERRVILLE, Texas — From appliance stores to churches, Sunday’s hailstorm left its mark of destruction across Kerrville.

Andrew Brown, who owns a construction company, was with his family at Home Depot preparing for the week when the hail really started coming down.

Brown says he whipped out his phone, capturing the chaos, as the ice chunks rained down on cars and broke through the Home Depot skylight.

“It was incredibly loud,” Brown said. “The video really doesn’t do it justice. It was really hard to hear anybody talk, just breaking through the skylights causing extensive damage.”

He’s just grateful his loved ones are safe despite the extensive damage that now exists on the family car they’ve only had for four months.

“It could have been way worse had we been on the road,” Brown said. “You can tell there’s dents pretty much all up and down it. It got mostly every portion even down to the lights, it just really did a number. The windshield is done for.”

Kerrville Bible Church and Greater Hope Church still stand but bear the scars from Mother Nature.

Most of Greater Hope Church’s windows are all blown out while a trail of ice lingers around the property. 

Then just up Harper Road, is the church where Scott Christensen serves as associate pastor. The hailstorm inflicted extensive damage on the roof and side of the main building at Kerrville Bible Church.

Christensen recalls wrapping up a meeting at the church on Sunday night, noticing waves of clouds overhead. It wasn’t until he got home and checked social media when Christensen realized the magnitude of the unfolding weather event.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anything quite like this,” Christensen said.

He said church leaders assessed the damage that evening and on Monday, the community came together to clean up debris, including broken tree branches that littered the property. 

“Several of our buildings are only a couple years old so kind of a bummer that they got some serious sustained damage,” Christensen said. “Doesn’t stop what we do here. God’s good to us.”