Baseball-size hail causes widespread damage in Madison area

Madison took a direct hit Tuesday evening from massive hail, some of it larger than baseballs, that smashed cars, tore up roofs and threatened to overwhelm repairers and insurance companies.

A 4-inch hailstone near Madison's East Side was the largest reported in Wisconsin Tuesday.

Hail damageMason Reck cleans the backseat of his car with a vacuum after hail smashed the back window.

The National Weather Service documented two dozen other preliminary reports of 2-inch or larger hail in a line extending through Middleton and the East Side of Madison. Smaller hail was reported throughout Dane County.

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Asias Sky Johnson, 22, was working the closing shift at the Willy Street Co-op on Madison's North Side during the storm when a co-worker told her she needed to go outside to look at her car's back windshield.

"I walked outside and it's just completely obliterated," Johnson said. "It looked like someone had taken a golf club to it. I sat on the top of my car, on the trunk, and just started bawling."

The hail had shattered the center of Johnson's rear windshield. Mechanics told Johnson it will take two weeks to get the right parts to repair her Lexus.

The hailstorms in Madison came in two waves Tuesday, both of which hit during the evening rush hour, with the worst coming in the second round.

Mason Reck, a resident of the Tenney-Lapham neighborhood who had both windshields on his car damaged, said he ran outside "in between storms" to cover his car with a tarp after the first round of hail shattered his back windshield.

Madison received 1.53 inches of rain Tuesday, a record for April 14. Baseball-size hail was also reported in Juneau and Vernon counties, and some Milwaukee suburbs had over 3 inches of rain, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The hail damage occurred during a multiday string of severe weather events, leaving those affected with little time to cover broken windshields or assess roof damage before storms returned late Wednesday.

A spokesperson for American Family Insurance said that as of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, it had received some 1,700 claims related to auto damage caused by Tuesday's storm, most of which were in the Madison area.

Clare Hendricks also said that while every auto insurance policy is different, "most comprehensive auto coverage will provide coverage for hail damage."

Cars covered in tarps after hailCars covered in tarps line North Few Street on Wednesday after storms Tuesday evening caused significant hail damage.

Significant damage to Far East Side car dealers

Damage was widespread at the vehicle dealerships that line High Crossing Boulevard on Madison's Far East Side. Dealership owners were in the midst of filing claims with their insurance companies Wednesday and figuring out how much the storm was going to cost them.

"Almost all the vehicles are some sort of damage," said Marcus Novy, one of the owners of Byrider Madison, a used car dealership. "We'll have some total losses on this, no doubt."

Tony Baker, owner of Metro Ford and Metro Kia, said just about all of the 300 to 350 new and used vehicles on his two lots sustained some sort of damage.

Hail damage to windshieldMason Reck cleans glass from his car's dashboard after hail damaged the front windshield and shattered the back windshield.

In his 38 years in the auto sales business, Baker said he's seen a couple weather events similar to what happened Tuesday, "but not to this extent. This was pretty sizable hail."

At Zimbrick Hyundai Eastside, salesman Dale Sheets said that when the storm broke out Tuesday afternoon at around 4:45 p.m., customers were directed to a conference room for safety.

"It was between baseball and golf ball," he said of the hailstones' size.

He said about 40-plus of the approximately 240 vehicles on the lot sustained windshield damage.

Insurance will cover much of the cost of repairing the dealerships' damaged vehicles, and they are required under state law to disclose the past damage when the vehicles are sold, typically at a reduced price.

Hole in window from hailMason Reck points to a hole in his car's rear side window from Tuesday's hailstorm.

More calls, fewer cars for Union Cab

Meanwhile, at Union Cab of Madison, shop manager Andy Konrath said the cooperative cab company is down seven cabs because of the storm.

"Five windshields and four rear windows got smashed out," Konrath said.

Hail in Madison storm shatters resident Asias Sky Johnson's windshieldTuesday's hailstorm shattered Madison resident Asias Sky Johnson's rear windshield. "It looked like someone had taken a golf club to it," said Johnson, who was working at the Willy Street Co-op on Madison's North Side when the storm hit.

Most of the vehicles were in the cooperative's lot on Pennsylvania Avenue on the city's North Side.

Union has about 50 cars and is getting a higher volume of calls from people needing rides because their cars are out of commission, Konrath said.

Airport damaged but fully operational

The hail also shattered cars' windshields in the surface parking lot at the Dane County Regional Airport.

Hail damage at airportCars with shattered back windshields sit in a parking lot at the Dane County Regional Airport on Wednesday. Hail as large as 4 inches in diameter caused widespread damage in the Madison area Tuesday evening.

The airport itself sustained roof and window damage, and a restaurant in the terminal had to close early due to hail damage to skylights, said spokesperson Carrie Springer, who said teams are still assessing the extent of the damage.

The airport remains fully operational, and flights are continuing to arrive and depart, Springer said.

As for vehicles parked in the airport's long-term parking lots, airport director of marketing and communications Michael Riechers said the airport was recommending that passengers who "had a vehicle parked here during yesterday's storm have a friend, family member, or other trusted contact come to the airport to check on their vehicle and cover any damage, if needed."

Calls to roofers began almost immediately

Roofing companies reported getting swamped with calls beginning early evening Tuesday.

"It's pretty devastating ... it's pretty widespread," said Nate Eveland, who has owned Isthmus Roofing since 2018 but started installing roofs in 1992.

The online requests started flowing in almost right after the hail dropped and have been coming in since, he said. "I'm just going crazy this morning."

"It's been busy, and we've been out looking at damage," Eveland said. "Not everywhere has significant damage, but the places in that main part of the swath, it is pretty significant roof and siding damage."

Hail in yardLarge hail litters a yard on Madison's East Side Tuesday evening.

Isthmus Roofing had six sales representatives fielding calls and doing inspections Wednesday. Most of the properties he's seen don't have much of a threat of leaking or further property damage, he said.

Peggy Hariu, one of the owners of 19-year-old Paramount Roofing and Siding of Madison, said her inspectors were also out Wednesday sizing up damage in Madison, Cottage Grove, DeForest and Bristol, among other places.

"I have not personally seen anything like this, and we've been doing this a long time," she said.

East Side hailA hailstone that fell on Madison's East Side Tuesday night.

Don't fall for 'storm chaser' tactics

The Wisconsin Builders Association and the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection warned homeowners who woke up to hail damage Wednesday that if an unsolicited offer for low-cost home repairs feels too good to be true, it probably is.

The trade group and the state agency urged residents to remain vigilant against "storm chasers" looking to take advantage of vulnerable property owners. Such contractors generally show up uninvited and use high-pressure sales tactics, promise free repairs or claim they will waive insurance deductibles.

Wisconsin Builders Association president Andy Selner said major storms, like those that slammed southern Wisconsin this week, "can create urgency for homeowners, but that urgency can also make them targets for bad actors."

Hail on Madison's Far West SidePieces of hail collected Tuesday from a yard on Madison's Far West Side are shown on a cutting board with a quarter and a golf ball.

"Taking a few extra steps to verify a contractor can prevent costly mistakes and protect the investment made in your home," Selner said in a statement.

A state law passed in 2013 prohibits contractors from offering to pay all or part of a homeowner's insurance deductible and negotiating insurance claims for the homeowner. The law also requires contractors to provide a questionnaire to determine if needed work is related to an insurance claim and gives homeowners a three-day window to cancel certain contracts if insurance claims are denied.

Homeowners can check or file complaints through the DATCP consumer protection hotline at 1-800-422-7128 or by emailing [email protected]. The state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance also provides a fact sheet for residents looking for their policy options and coverage information following a storm.

State Journal reporters Samara Kalk Derby, Mitchell Schmidt, Chris Rickert, Sabine Martin and Nicole Pollack and photographer Owen Ziliak contributed to this report.