- NC's cost for Hurricane Helene damage is nearly $60 billion, state says
- State to develop drone program to better respond to disasters like Helene, Florence
- South Carolina residents face deadline to get storm debris out to the curb after Hurricane Helene
- SCDOT to pick up Hurricane Helene debris for a final day in South Carolina
- Hurricane Helene destroyed this county's only hospital. Now, an urgent care facility is caring for the community.
Collision repair shops and roofing companies hit with another big wave of business after Thursday's hail storm
Golf ball-sized hail left vehicles and roofs badly damaged.
Some homeowners and car owners in parts of Williamson and Travis counties are dealing with damage after Thursday’s hail storm.
“It was little ticks at first and then all of a sudden it was like boom, boom, boom, boom,” said Aaron Spivey-Sorrells.
Outside of Spivey-Sorrells’ door was golf ball-sized hail pouring down onto his yard.
“Usually it’s something a baseball bat would do, but it’s hail,” said Spivey-Sorrells.
He said his family had just walked into their Pflugerville home before the hail storm. The large hail knocked holes in his back windshield – straight through the glass.
Similar damage can be seen on vehicles in Round Rock and Leander.
When you have heavy hail like this coming down, your home is at risk too. Spivey-Sorrells said he has to get his roof replaced.
“The roofs that need to be done is more than can be done in a timely manner,” said Water Damage and Roofing of Austin Project Manager Ben Willows. “It’s going to take a year-and-a-half just because of supply and demand.
Willows said the company was already slammed from the hail storm three weeks ago; same for local dent removal shop Dentworks in North Austin.
“We’ve got two other guys here now and we rented another location,” said Manager Thane Matcek. “It’s been rolling and it’s not going to stop.”
Matcek said most customers who called Friday had to be referred to a collision repair shop because the damage was too severe.
PHOTOS: Hail damage reported in Central Texas
GP1 Collision Center of Round Rock was one of those busy collision repair shops. The manager said Friday that 50 badly damaged vehicles rolled into the parking lot. He expects to receive 80 a day next week.
Insurance representatives with State Farm said they’ve already received hundreds of claims in our area. According to State Farm, Texas was the top state for paid hail claims last year. The insurance company paid $474 million on about 56,000 hail claims for homes and cars in our state.
“Thank god we got insurance,” said Spivey-Sorrells.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: