We got nailed with one severe thunderstorm that tossed hail around for about 15 minutes. We were driving home from the gym, and I decided to take the 'long' way around to check the mail. When we pulled in the driveway the skies opened up pouring. I decided that since Jeffrey was sound asleep we'd just wait out the storm in the car.
Well not a minute later small hail started falling. Withing another few minutes it was bigger hail. Erin was actually rather excited, while I was getting a bit nervous. Sitting in the car during a thunderstorm - fine. Sitting in the car during a tornado...not so fine. Anyway we managed to get a call through to Tom and he said that severe thunderstorms were in the area with the possibility of hail (I confirmed that possibility for him) but no tornadoes.
It got loud in the car...really really loud. Erin sat in the back seat covering her ears. I tried to keep myself calm while watching things begin to swirl around outside. The winds picked up and broken leaves began swirling around.
When it all slowed down I made a dash for the basement door, ran back to get Erin from the car, and eventually Jeffrey - who was amazingly still asleep. We surveyed the damage. So far I've not found any structural damage (not even dents on the car...which sounded like it was being bombarded with frozen grapefruit). The stoop outside the front door had 6" of hail piled up. The hail was all about 1/2" to 3/4" in diameter. Unfortunately EVERY plant was destroyed. We were just getting flowers on the tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. They are all now totally flattened. Their stems and leaves were literally shattered.
I'm really glad we were at least in the driveway and not stuck out on the road somewhere. And plants are replaceable. But the power of the storm is something that Erin and I are unlikely to forget any time soon.
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