Hail falls in parts of North Texas ahead of winter storm

DALLAS - People living in Wise County spent much of the day patching up holes in their homes and figuring out how to fix busted windows and windshields on their cars.

Severe storms dropped a lot of hail in the area Monday night. People are bracing for the winter weather Wednesday and Thursday.

FOX 4 viewers in from areas like Wise, Denton and Collin counties shared photos and video of the hail that fell at their homes early Tuesday morning.

Wise County officials say an estimated 30 to 40 homes had damage with broken windows, damaged roofs and broken windshields.

The challenge for homeowners was scrambling to patch up the damage ahead of freezing rain and sleet in the forecast.

Matt Dolgener was one of many in Wise County watching hail the size of golf balls coming down on Monday night.

"It sounds like there’s 100 people on top of your house working on your roof at the same time," he said.

And while the hail only lasted for a few minutes, it was long enough to do some damage at Dolgener’s home. He had cracked windshields on both his trucks, broken glass on his front walkway lights, chipped wooden posts and the front window of his home was shattered.

"I’ve been on the phone all day. On hold with insurance companies and getting claims filed and stuff scheduled you know," he said.

All along Heritage Parkway between Rhome and Decatur, there were dozens of homes with similar damage.

The hail covered the ground at Sarann Sara's home in McKinney. She said it sounded like her windows were going to blow out but apparently, they didn’t.

Deseree LeFevre got a lot of hail in Lake Dallas just after 3:30 a.m. She said it was the worst hail she’s ever heard in her life. She also thought her windows were going to break, but everything is okay. 

Some homeowners like Joseph Liedl weren't so lucky. The hail broke windows at his home in Wise County and likely totaled at least one of his cars because of the amount of damage.

"It started up with pea-sized hail then got worse and worse and worse. And we knew there was going to be quite a bit of destruction. Of course, the ground looked like it snowed outside. It was completely white," he said. "All the cars windows are busted. Sunroofs busted. Backs of the windows, gutters on the house are destroyed."

He and others in those hard-hit areas will be calling their insurance adjustor now that they've had a chance to look the damage.

Eric Bullard with A1 Labor Ready Roofing was already out making house calls.

"A lot of the screens will have dents in all the metal as well, and so all of that has to be replaced," he said.

Homeowners did not waste any time on Tuesday, boarding up windows and installing tarps ahead of freezing rain and below-freezing temperatures expected on Wednesday.

Dolgener was working quickly to make his last minute glass repair ahead of the cold.

"Hopefully, we’ll get that done before the end of the day. If not, we’ll hope my plastic lasts another day or two," he said.

North Texas winter weather preps: Crews pretreat highways ahead of icy forecast

Then another disturbance brings some light freezing rain and sleet pellets on Wednesday. Steadier precipitation could develop Wednesday night into Thursday. 

The Texas Department of Transportation said its crews are already working to prepare major roadways, concentrating on bridges and overpasses. They are pretreating the roads with a brine mixture to try to prevent freezing.

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