LORETTO, Minn. — The hail that hit Loretto arrived with a bang.
“Firecrackers going off, that’s a good description of what it sounds like,” Dave Gausman said.
Gausman showed off a hailstone, pulled from his freezer, the size of a small orange.
A similar stone took out the back window of his Ford Focus parked in the driveway.
“The yard was covered with them,” Gausman said.
A block up the street, Brett Gunderson pulled from a plastic bag several hailstones closer to baseballs in size.
“I wasn't too happy when I woke up this morning and saw that,” Gunderson said, pointing to the shattered rear window in his Buick Century.
By the end of business on Monday, Mark Kuhlenkamp had already inspected 14 cars at his body shop, Loretto Auto Reconditioning.
“I’d say the average price is from $4000 to $5000,” Kuhlenkamp said. “We might have some up to 10 if we have to cut a roof off and put a roof on.”
Roofs and siding were other hailstorm causalities.
Loretto’s mayor, Kent Koch, pointed out the dents in his home’s siding.
“It was like 12:30 last night when it came through and by 8 a.m. this morning I had three or four contractors had already contacted me,” Koch said.
Bao Vang of the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota says step one for homeowners should be contacting their insurance company.
Then, she recommends choosing a contractor carefully. Vang say the BBB website is good resource.
“You can determine very quickly if they’re a legitimate company and any red flags will be shown on their business profile,” Vang said.
Justin Kuipers showing a picture on his cell phone of a three-inch hailstone he picked up beneath the brand-new roof installed on his house last Friday.
“In less than 48 hours this happened,” Kuiper said, shaking his head.
Loretto can't be blamed for saying, hail no.
