July 03--Fayetteville insurance offices and auto repair shops were flooded with hundreds of calls Monday, a day after large hail battered parts of the city.

In neighborhoods from Haymount to west Fayetteville, hail as large as tennis balls dented cars, cracked windshields and damaged homes.

Nearly all 300 vehicles parked at the Stewart Nissan dealership on Bragg Boulevard were damaged during the storm around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Some rear windows were shattered.

Elizabeth Penney, office manager for State Farm Insurance on North McPherson Church Road, said her phone rang nonstop Monday with customers reporting damage. She said she fielded at least 50 calls in the morning. On a typical day, she gets only one or two.

"We didn't even have this type of damage with the tornadoes last year," Penney said.

Anyone with hail damage, Penney said, should send a claim to an insurance provider as soon as possible.

The damage estimate at Stewart Nissan could be $500,000 to $1 million, said Steve Wells, the sales manager.

"It varies from minor dents to windshields completely smashed in," Wells said. "The damage is going to be significant."

Wells said the dealership was still assessing all the damage Monday afternoon, when a team of appraisers visited the lot.

The dealership has two off-site inventory lots, including one a few miles west on Bragg Boulevard where vehicles were untouched. Wells said he plans to swap out the inventory while the damaged vehicles are repaired.

The body shop at Crown Dodge of Fayetteville was slammed Monday, said manager Harold Tyndall. The shop, a certified repairer for several insurance companies, saw about 15 cars in the morning -- more than it typically sees during an entire day.

Insurer GMAC plans to set up a mobile claims center at the shop today, Tyndall said.

Most of the minor dents on car roofs and side panels can be fixed with paintless dent repair, he said. But dented hoods and trunks and cracked windshields would most likely need to be replaced.

Tyndall estimated the damage he assessed Monday would cost car owners a minimum of $2,500.

Body shops in the area will be busy for the next couple of weeks because of the storm, he said. "It's very unfortunate," Tyndall said. "These storms come quickly, so people don't have time to get their cars under shelters."

There is little anyone can do once the hail starts falling, Tyndall said.

"I just had to stand and watch it pound my car," he said.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh received sporadic reports of hail from throughout the city. Katie Roussy, a meteorologist, said the extreme heat and humidity created perfect conditions for hail.

"It's just been so hot and with so much moisture in the air, the storms are just able to grow tall with layers of hot and cold air building on top of one another," Roussy said. "Storms that size are able to produce the large hail we saw (Sunday)."

The Weather Service's outlook calls for a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms through Friday. Roussy said the conditions are similar to those on Sunday, so Fayetteville could see more hail this week.

Staff writer Ali Rockett can be reached at rocketta@fayobserver.com or 486-3528.

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