Hail

jeepins

TJ Addict
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Mar 28, 2018
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1,496
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Houston, TX, USA
Just got into bed last Thu night and was looking at radar on iPad when I heard plinking on the roof. Got up and realized it was hail. Only marble sized but my TJ was sitting in the driveway and quite a few did bounce off the hood and fenders. About large marble-sized and shaped like shrapnel the feeling of just watching that made my knees buckle a little. Next day, no damage to the fresh paint job that I could see. Kind of makes me want to look at covers again but that was probably the 4th time in 15 years at my house i've seen hail (usually happens on the north side of town) and this was the largest size and amount. The sound of it hitting the Jeep was torture.
 
Aint that right, I was still at work when the marble size started to fall in Katy, Luckily at work we have a large warehouse I could pull my truck into just in case it got bigger. Later that night in Clear Lake the softball size started to fall mixed in with the marble size, my 04 TJ, 16 JK, 18 F-150 4x4, 88 Bronco and sons 18 F-150 were all out in it but did not suffer any damage (I think the tree canopy over the driveway helped to protect all of them except the Bronco it was on the street) but damn those softball size ones sounded like hell on my house and there is nothing to do but watch and hope.
 
The fun starts when you see 2"+ hail bouncing off. Two years ago we had a nasty storm roll thru at work. All we could do was stand near the window and watch everything get obliterated. $2700 worth of damage to mine. Fenders, hood, cowl, and soft top.
 
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Aint that right, I was still at work when the marble size started to fall in Katy, Luckily at work we have a large warehouse I could pull my truck into just in case it got bigger. Later that night in Clear Lake the softball size started to fall mixed in with the marble size, my 04 TJ, 16 JK, 18 F-150 4x4, 88 Bronco and sons 18 F-150 were all out in it but did not suffer any damage (I think the tree canopy over the driveway helped to protect all of them except the Bronco it was on the street) but damn those softball size ones sounded like hell on my house and there is nothing to do but watch and hope.
That's exactly where i'm located - Clear Lake. And i'm not talking about a fabric cover.. I just think in my head be nice to have something thick to lay over the thing if it looks like it's about to get nasty up above but by then it's usually too late. What I really need to do is finish a few other projects so I can keep the Jeep in the garage. ;)
 
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Hail is a scary thing. I go for cover as soon as it starts. Fortunately I've never experienced the golf ball size stuff.
 
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Fortunately, by the time the storms got to us, the hail was reduced to pea size but man did we get the rain. My street flooded about a dozen houses away from us in both directions. Something like 450 houses got water in them. I covered the wife’s car with sleeping bags and cardboard, then a tarp over that thinking the hail would still be an issue. Parked my truck under a couple of large trees hoping the branches would slow it down some.
My street

5B9EC4C2-8664-44A7-BA6C-37A2251870B0.jpeg

Luckily my Jeep stays in the garage.
 
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That's exactly where i'm located - Clear Lake.

Cool, I am at Eldorado and El camino, Our family friends that live just off Pinilock were not so lucky the hail got all four of their vehicles, it was bad for a while out there for sure.
 
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My street flooded about a dozen houses away from us in both directions

Yup, we got some street flooding also, but you guys up north got it much worse from what I heard. Here is my street around 11:30pm that night.
street flow.webp
 
Years ago, when I drove a Vette, we had a hail storm come through, and I ran out with some old army wool blankets I had and covered the car during the storm. That stuff beat me senseless but I saved the car. I had welts, bruises all over. Wife thought I was nuts, but while almost everybody else had damaged vehicles, I didn’t.
 
Yup, we got some street flooding also, but you guys up north got it much worse from what I heard. Here is my street around 11:30pm that night.View attachment 93586
There were some other factors involved other than just the amount of rain we got. A local housing development redirected the drainage, and houses that were built in the early to mid eighties, and had never flooded even during Harvey, took on water.
 
The fun starts when you see 2"+ hail bouncing off. Two years ago we had a nasty storm roll thru at work. All we could do was stand near the window and watch everything get obliterated. $2700 worth of damage to mine. Fenders, hood, cowl, and soft top.

It sounded like a freight train from a quarter mile away. When I heard that same storm come my way and saw the small hail start, I ran outside across the parking lot with a couple mover's blankets to cover the hood. After a few too many very painful hits to the head, neck and shoulders. I rolled under the Jeep for shelter as the parking lot flooded. The hood suffered a few dents through the blankets. And I had several bruises that reminded me of getting shot with a paint ball gun.
 
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Yea it's just the thought of such helplessness at the moment it happens and then reason sets in and pretty much not a damn thing you can do but watch it getting tortured. Also the price you pay for keeping things outside exposed. No flooding by me tho. I didn't know it even flooded down here, all I kept hearing about was Kingwood this time around.
 
Yea it's just the thought of such helplessness at the moment it happens and then reason sets in and pretty much not a damn thing you can do but watch it getting tortured. Also the price you pay for keeping things outside exposed. No flooding by me tho. I didn't know it even flooded down here, all I kept hearing about was Kingwood this time around.
Yep, pretty much all the south side of Kingwood flooded during Harvey. But even then it was primarily as a result of Lake Conroe opening up all the gates on the dam at 3:30 in the morning, and not warning or letting anyone know at Lake Houston. Everyone in between the two flooded. This time it was the northern side, as a result of a developer redirecting the drainage in the area. The lawyers are circling like vultures, and have been for a while. Mayor Turner has been here, Dan Crenshaw has been here, Bill White was here, and the new helicopters were here. To say it’s been crazy is an understatement.
 
Cool, I am at Eldorado and El camino, Our family friends that live just off Pinilock were not so lucky the hail got all four of their vehicles, it was bad for a while out there for sure.
Looks like @Fixer6 has 'Clear lake' right outside his window....glad your ok buddy
 
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Looks like @Fixer6 has 'Clear lake' right outside his window....glad your ok buddy
Thank you, but I’m in Kingwood. Northeast of Humble, northeast of Houston, just north of Lake Houston. These man made, God assisted, catastrophes are going to kill our property values I’m afraid. What once was an elite community, built for Exxon executives, billed as the Livable Forest, I fear is going to become another statistic.
 
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Speaking of Exxon, I bought my house from Exxon. An employee was transferred to Europe and the house sat empty for a year. Got one helluva deal on it and that was in 2004. Horsepen Bayou runs directly behind me keeping the rainwater aimed at Clear Lake and then nobody but rabbits, coyotes, deer and then Ellington with the occasional possum, raccoon or armadillo wandering through the backyard.
 
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Speaking of Exxon, I bought my house from Exxon. An employee was transferred to Europe and the house sat empty for a year. Got one helluva deal on it and that was in 2004. Horsepen Bayou runs directly behind me keeping the rainwater aimed at Clear Lake and then nobody but rabbits, coyotes, deer and then Ellington with the occasional possum, raccoon or armadillo wandering through the backyard.
Bought mine from an Exxon guy who retired 23 years ago. We have the same critters here as well. The biggest buck I’ve ever seen in my life was on one of the golf courses here, and I’ve trapped 27 raccoons in my back yard to date. I just relocate them to another neighborhood here in Kingwood. Kind of a “share the wealth” gesture. I relocate any and all cats I catch in the same manner, as I can’t stand them things. Im less than a mile from the San Jacinto River, and about a mile and a half from Lake Houston.
 
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