After The Hail Storm

The hail storm was over a week ago. One by one, New Hyde Park neighbors fixed their broken windshields. Now on to the many dents that the balls of ice created on the roof, the hood and the trunk of cars. 

Numerous phone calls have gone out to insurance companies and estimates are coming in. I have one car at the collision place and one waiting for the insurance claim to be approved. Car damages are being repaired.

The day after the storm, a few of my neighbors gathered outside. One neighbor related how he had found some of the shingles from his roof on the lawn. His deck was destroyed also. He was having the insurance appraiser coming over to take a look. This, of course, made us all stop and wonder if we had damage on our own roofs that we could not see.

My husband discovered several of our window screens were torn. I imagine that the hail hit the screens with such a force that it broke through them. Another neighbor had a broken skylight and fencing that was cracked in several places. As I drove around the area during the week, I saw several homes with loose or missing roof shingles. Some had new roofs going up already probably because they had water leaking through.

There certainly was a great deal of damage to our material items but nature turned on itself also. Anyone who had planted the pretty little flowers that often line New Hyde Park homes had just green stems coming out of the ground. Several of our small bushes took quite a beating and are turning brown. The ice must have shocked them. Perhaps they will recover; only time will tell.

It was quite a storm as we all realize in dealing with the aftermath of damage that it brought to our neighborhood. Last winter was plagued by many snowstorms with large accumulations but we never experienced anything like this in the summer months. I never have paid much attention when the weather forecasts heavy rain with possible hail but I certainly will from now on.