Weld County residents recovering from latest hail storm

July 30--Another hailstorm blew through Greeley and Weld County on Sunday, causing flooding and damaging cars, roofs and windows.

No one seems to have been more adversely impacted by the latest rash of extreme weather than local farmers.

Adam Stromberger, who farms east of Windsor, said all but one of his bean fields was decimated during Thursday's hailstorm. The one field that survived, however, was hit hard Sunday night.

"The beans? They're disking material," said Stromberger of the 56 acres of beans he had planted.

Stromberger also has 470 acres of corn, most of which has been stripped down to stalks and ears.

"It'll still make something, but it will be a drastic loss of yield, he said. "I'll just have to wait and see how the ears fill out and how they finish."

Tigges Farm, 12404 Weld County Road 64 1/2 in Greeley also was hit hard by the hail. Among other things, the farm offers a popular pumpkin patch, which opens to the public Aug.

"As my dad said many, many years ago, when you get hit with hail, the best thing to do is to wait a week," said Kathy Rickart, who manages the farm along with her brother and sister.

She said the damage in the immediate aftermath looks bad, but already there are signs some plants are springing back to life. No matter what damage the storm did, she said, the farm will open to the public as scheduled and will honor its contracts.

"We don't close," she said. "We don't do this to get rich. We do this because we love the public and we love this community."

Hergert Land and Cattle Co.'s corn crops took a beating. Nathan Hergert said the crop isn't expected to recover.

"We can expect around a 35 percent loss, so we will probably be down from our 230 bushel per acre average to around 150 bushel an acre."

Hergert Land and Cattle is located at the intersection of Weld County roads 27 and 70, about 5 miles northwest of central Greeley.

"We had quite a bit of other damage," he said. "We had holes in siding, dents and a cracked windshield in my pickup, damaged roofs, and about a complete loss of our personal gardens, and just the general destruction of all vegetation."

Norman Betz, who farms 1,520 acres of corn, beans and alfalfa, from Eaton south to 10th Street and 83rd Avenue in Greeley, said Thursday's hailstorm turned his 100-acres of beans into a total loss and damaged his corn crop by Kodak in Windsor.

Sunday's hailstorm, especially the 20 minutes of golf-ball-sized hail that pounded the Eaton area, took a toll on his remaining fields.

"I don't have any acres of corn that haven't been hit by hail," Betz said. "This year's been a rough one."

Janine Freeman, co-owner of J-9 Crop Insurance in Ault, said her phone was ringing off the hook Monday morning.

"The ones that got hit got hit hard," she said. "I have some guys in Sedgwick and Phillips County who have absolutely nothing left. They can't tell if it's a corn stalk or a sunflower stalk."

Freeman, however, said farmers know Mother Nature doesn't always play nice.

"What's interesting, when you talk to farmers, they tell you it (getting hailed out) hurts and it's a kick in their stomachs. They also know the reality is that's part of their lives."

Although it might seem like Weld County has experienced more than its fair share of hail, Natalie Sullivan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder, said this year hasn't been out of the ordinary.

"Right now is the monsoon season, and we generally get quite a few storms at end of July," she said. "Hail usually happens during the summer, and there's always a potential for hail with any large storm, so this isn't abnormal."

The fast-moving storm hit Greeley about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. It moved through the area about 35 mph and by 7:30 p.m. it was over. In Greeley and Evans, hail 1-2 inches in diameter was reported.

Local police were busy Sunday after the storm responding to residential and commercial alarms, nearly all of which were attributed to windows shattering because of the hail. An untold number of cars also were damaged, including several police cruisers, said Lt. Fred Meyer of Greeley police.

"We do have some damaged cars, but we don't know how many we'll need to send out for repairs again," He said. "We also don't yet know the extent of the damage."

Alicia Parent, inside sales rep at Glass Doctor in Greeley, said she was expecting a busy day given she had six calls about windshield repairs and a few more for broken house windows in the first hour the business was open.

As is often the case following a massive hailstorm, residents should expect to encounter contractors going door-to-door to drum up some business. Meyer recommended local residents do their homework before entering in to an agreement with anyone offering repair services.

"There's probably some people out there going door-to-door who are legitimate, but also a number who aren't," Meyer said. "It's always best to consult with your insurance company about referrals for reputable contractors and auto repair shops."

-- Tribune reporter Joe Moylan and Fence Post Editor Rona Johnson contributed to this story.

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