Regina residents deal with hail damage after stormy surprise

Regina residents deal with hail damage after stormy surprise

Many residents sustained damage to vehicles and homes

Dale Horaska used sound effects to describe Tuesday's storm in Regina.

"All I heard was banging, like 'bang bang, bang, bang' and it just just downpoured hail," Horaska said.

Residents in some areas of the city were dealing with extensive hail damage in the aftermath of the storm.

Golf ball-sized hail rained down, leaving a trail of destruction. The storm caused significant damage to residential siding, shingles and even vehicles.

Horaska said he hadn't checked the roof of his home yet, but his truck sustained damage in the driveway.

"There's dents everywhere," he said. "The roof is dented too. So, yeah, it's not good."

The truck has a lot of sentimental value.

"It was my uncle's, then my dad's and then me. So yeah, it means a lot to me, it really does," Horaska said.

He said he's working on an SGI claim.

"I can't imagine how many vehicles are damaged right now in this whole area, and wherever else in the city got, you know, the big hail. Trees are damaged, just everything," he said.

​'Pretty surreal': Strong tornado tears through southeast Sask.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said several areas were hit with nasty weather Tuesday.

"Regina was the place that got the worst in Saskatchewan," Fulton said.

"We got reports of golf ball-sized hail there in Regina, as well as some localized flooding in the city, and also in Weyburn, and Indian Head got about 30 milimetres of rain."

According to ECCC, Estevan and Yorkton faced winds gusting up to 85 km/h.

Across the border into Manitoba, there were reports of hail the size of tennis balls and winds reaching 130 km/h.

Spokesperson Jeremy Pilon said SGI has already seen more than 2,000 auto claims from the storm.

"We're expecting that, of course, to just go up as the day goes on, and as we go through the next few [and] people file their claims," Pilon said.

SGI has also received about 200 claims for property damage so far. It currently has no timeframe for processing the claims.

"We do know it's going to be longer than usual, because this is a significant event and resources are limited. There's only so many adjusters around. We are taking some steps to try and accelerate that process," Pilon said.

He said SGI is planning "appraisal blitzes," where people will be able to come and get their appraisals done "drive-thru style."

Mel Colbow said there was damage in his Regina yard, especially in the backyard where his garden is.

"My neighbourhood fence is gone. I mean, it's a plastic fence or whatever they call it, and it's shot. Yeah, there's nothing left of it," Colbow said.

Colbow said cleaning up his neighbourhood is going to take days.

"Probably need the city to come and do something with these streets now," he said.

"And they just swept them about a month ago."

Associate Producer, Indigenous Pathways

Randi LaRocque is a Métis woman working as an associate producer with the Indigenous Pathways program. She can be reached at randi.larocque@cbc.ca