WIMBERLEY, Texas — Gale Wiley has been a resident of Wimberley for nearly 20 years and has dealt with hail more times than he can count. But after Thursday night’s storms rolled in, he feared the worst.
"Most of us just blow off [the emergency alerts] … 'It's not me, right?' This time, I felt this was personal. It was like, ‘This is you, buddy. You're the one, and this storm is coming right for you,’" Wiley said.
He said at one point during the storms, he decided to take cover.
“I just couldn't believe it. It sounded like someone was hammering on the roof. I have a metal roof. And so, it was just scary – really scary,” Wiley said.
Eventually, he decided to see the storms firsthand and recorded large hail spread out in front of his home.
On Friday, Wiley showed KVUE two of his vehicles, which had several dents and broken windshields due to the hail. He also showed his blown-out windows and his temporary fixes to keep them covered.
Wiley noted that although his roofs are metal, they will still need to be looked at. He believes the costs will surpass previous coverage his insurance has had to cover all the hail damage.
"There's a lot to be concerned about with this,” Wiley said. “I was supposed to go to New York on Monday. I canceled the whole thing because all week long, I'll be messing with this."
Hays County issued a disaster declaration to free up resources to those in need.
Residents in the Woodcreek neighborhood were left with broken solar panels, downed trees and damaged roofs.
Billy Pattison works for Infinity Roofing & Siding and also lives in the area. He said his vehicle and house also got hit with hail.
“We had broken windows. All of our vehicles are severely damaged with broken windshields,” Pattison said.
Because Pattison works in the roofing business, surveying hail damage comes with the territory and he was in the neighborhood – on duty with his colleague – helping folks out.
“I would say that probably 90% of the homes in the neighborhood are going to be damaged,” Pattison said. “We have about 20 guys in the neighborhood ready to help out.”
No one is Hays County has been reported hurt.