Zak Nix estimated damage to his dealership to be over $1 million including damaged cars and a damaged roof.
HENDERSON, Texas — Residents in Henderson spent the day assessing the damage mother nature left behind on their vehicles after baseball-sized hail pummeled the city on Wednesday.
Video shared by Clayton Brooks from inside the Yates GMC dealership in Henderson shows hail outside the building and bouncing off the rooftop.
“I’ve been open 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like the size of this hail,” said dealer principal Zak Nix.
Golf ball to baseball-sized hail caused damage to Nix’s vehicles and his roof.
“I knew there was going to be a lot of damage, just by the size of the hail,” said Nix. “It was blowing sideways, horizontally and we got dents on doors where we normally don’t have those.”
Nix estimated damage to be over $1 million damaged cars and a damaged roof.
At Burl’s Collision, car owners were quick to take care of business after the storm.
“When I showed up to work this morning there were about 50 cars in our parking lot. We had them lined up and I never had that happen in 26 years,” said owner Burl Richards.
It was a triage center for hail-damaged cars with tables set out and all hands on deck for the repair process.
“We’re putting crash wrap so it doesn’t get more damage,” Richards said. “Today we’ve probably seen around 200 customers.”
Jone Pool, who was at the Henderson Walmart parking lot where dozens of cars were damaged by the hail was one of those 200 customers.
“Dents and windows, so yeah, it’s mainly that side,” Pool said.
She bought a new vehicle just last year, and now it’s covered in dents and has a shattered windshield.
“Mainly need to wait on the insurance to do what they need to do. They don’t know how long it will take as you can tell that are here today,” Pool said.
If anything positive is coming out of this hailstorm, it’s the hailstorm sales across many dealerships.
After Wednesday’s hailstorm, experts are warning about fake contactors offering to fix your roof.
“Texas is a non-licensed to contract state, there’s a lot of contractors that will run around and, they get a bad name, they will runoff with peoples money, so vet, your contractor. Make sure that the contractor you hire is going to do quality work that you need,” Dallas roofing contractor Stephen Cathey said.
Most scams begin with contractors who “just happen to be in the area” and notices your roof or home appears to need repairs from the outside. That’s illegal in Texas. Experts recommend to do your research before hiring.