‘Devastating’ Calgary hail storm damages homes, cars and gardens

A severe hailstorm that passed through Calgary on Saturday evening caused extensive damage to some neighborhoods south of Calgary.

“The hailstones hit the front window where we were standing so hard I was afraid it would break,” Sheila Luft, from her Riverbend home, said.

Luft watched as hail fell on the house and garden.

“Then it started pouring and then soon there was hail. There was very little rain. It was just a hailstorm,” Luft said.

There is a hole in the outer wall of her house. The hail was so ferocious that the back door light glass flew off and the railing was damaged. The apple trees in the garden, which were once full of fruit, were now bare.

“It’s devastating, but I’m grateful that no one was hurt,” Luft said.

Ray Jabrika lives on the east side of Riverbend. His entire patio roof shattered into pieces.

“It was kind of creeping up on us. All of a sudden we heard a bang bang bang and wondered what was going on. It was too early for fireworks,” Jablika said.

He added that it started as a hailstone about the size of a dime and grew to the size of a golf ball.

“It was really loud, there was a lot of crackling, and I didn’t expect[the patio roof]to break like that,” said Jabrika.

Other homes in the neighborhood were also badly damaged by hail storms coming in from the northwest.

Some were pockmarked, while others, like the Heritage Meadows Calgary BMW, were spared, as the netting that protected the car had a mountain of hail.

Gardeners in Calgary’s southern tip have lamented the loss of everything from kale to clematis, but experts say recovery is still possible.

“We’re hearing sad stories, but we’re also hearing a little bit of optimism,” horticulturist Cass Smith said Sunday.

“Be careful. Never cut back, as the beds look a little ragged. Go inside and watch carefully. Sometimes just removing some of the damaged leaves will help you grow new plants from there.” You get growth and production and sometimes it works,” Smith said.

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