Lethbridges flood waters may not have left extensive damage, but the storm that fueled it has.
Severe thunderstorms in June flooded streets throughout the city, backing up storm sewers and hitting surrounding towns with flash floods.
But the storms also brought pea to golf ball sized hail, hitting car dealerships along its path.
“We’ve got quite a few vehicles in our inventory and quite a few of them were hit by hail,” said Bridge City Chrysler General Manager Jonas Arnoldussen.
“We have just under a million dollars worth of damage to one hundred per cent of our vehicles,” said Shaun Henderson at Dunlop Ford. “It definitely left us with a bit of a challenge.”
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To the untrained eye, surface damage on these vehicles can be hard to spot. It’s no Cardston hail storm, which left baseball sized dents and cracked windshields when it hit last year, but it’s enough to cause vehicle owners grief.
Hail also shredded crops, ruining just seeded fields, leaving many farmers back at square one halfway through the season.
While hundreds of vehicles were affected, and the hail destroyed farmer’s fields the damage doesn’t stop there. Storms also wreaked havoc on dozens of homes in Southern Alberta.
Home repair and restoration companies say they’re stretched to their limit.
“Roof shingles, your fascia, gutters,” said On Side Restoration’s Dean Duff, listing home damage he’s seen. “Not too many siding damages yet, but it’s still hard to say because claims are coming in daily.”
The company has been responding to damage claims across Southern Alberta since June.
Insurance companies encourage residents to document and photograph any hail damaged sustained during the storms.
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