JOHNSTOWN, Colo. (KDVR) — Some neighbors in Johnstown woke up Wednesday morning to a complete whiteout on the street, sidewalks and yards — all thanks to a ton of hail that rolled in during a storm Tuesday night.
“We woke up to piles and piles, some of it as deep as my waist and knees,” said Kelly Secrest, who lives in Johnstown.
She said the hail was only pea-sized so it caused minimal damage, but it fell for about an hour straight.
“People were trying to scoop it but it was so heavy. It’s not like with snow,” Secrest said. “I have never seen anything like this in my life.”
Secrest said it took tractors nearly four hours to clean up the road in the Country Acres neighborhood.
“I don’t even know, I can’t explain it, to be honest. I can’t explain it. I’ve seen things like this on TV but now I’ve seen it in person,” Secrest said. “It was different, that’s the best I can come up with. It was different.”
Over in Erie, the size of the hail made a huge difference, and several cars and homes in the area were damaged.
“At first you heard the dings, then the dings turned into a full-on rumble. Then we couldn’t hear anything,” Daniel Sheckells said, who lives in Erie.
Sheckells said the hail was about the size of his palm and when they realized the severity of it all, they tried to save their cars. He said he tried to put a hard hat on and run outside to cover his car with a blanket, but it was too late.
“All of our windshields are cracked. They look like they’ve been in a world war, like shotgun shells,” Sheckells said.