People in Wise County spent Tuesday cleaning up after their homes and cars were damaged by hail.
It was an active night of storms across North Texas, with storm warnings and watches issued from the early evening hours Monday and in the overnight hours.
Russell Smith has lived along Heritage Creek Drive near Decatur for 18 years and said they’re used to storms, but hail on Monday caused significant damage.
“The whole house was shaking, and then the windows started breaking out. It’s just Texas. We do get a lot of hail and high winds, but that was pretty big,” Smith said. “It definitely ruined my roof and knocked out six windows. Beat my car to pieces.”
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In preparation for the next round of winter weather, Smith spent Tuesday boarding up the broken windows and covering his daughter’s car which had a damaged rooftop.
“It was really loud. This was definitely the worst hail storm I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The hailstones were probably not quite baseball-sized, but bigger than golf balls. For sure.”
Nearby, Kathy Courtney’s home was largely spared from damage. Courtney said her car required a front windshield replacement, and her husband’s car also sustained some damage.
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“Luckily, his windows are all fine,” she said. “We still have to get our roof inspected with our insurance, but our gutters…you can already tell there’s some damage there.”
Courtney’s front windshield was replaced Tuesday by Britt Garcia, a glass technician from Safelite AutoGlass. Garcia said he originally had three appointments on Tuesday, which quickly doubled by the morning due to the storm.
“Getting hit in that little section, if you hit it just right…it’s going to pop a window,” Garcia said, referring to Courtney’s windshield. “Busy, busy day.”
Other hail damage was reported in Paradise, population about 500.
Roofing crews were racing Tuesday to put tarps on damaged roofs before the winter storm.
"So now we got all the damage and busted windows and tarped homes and the snow and sleet are going to come in on top of it. It is going to be pretty rough," said Paradise resident Wyatt Raper, who happens to manage a roofing business.
The Wise County Office of Emergency Management is asking residents with damage to their homes due to the storm to contact their office with the location of the damage, a brief description, and a photo, if possible. The office is also asking for any photos or video of a possible funnel cloud sighting. Information can be emailed to oem@co.wise.tx.us.
NBC 5's Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
