Stunning video shows hail the size of baseballs cutting a swath through North Texas causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage.
The weather system which hit on Wednesday smashed everything from car windscreens to roofing and is likely to top the $400 million in losses from a series of tornadoes two months ago, the Insurance Council of Texas said on Thursday.
Lasting more than three hours, the two intense storms swept through Dallas shredding trees and blanketing streets with downed limbs and leaves, leaving 6,000 homes and business without power.
'This was definitely a multimillion-dollar hail storm,' said Jason Dunn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, which originally forecast for only a 20 percent chance of rain.
'A lot of car windshields were blown out and roofs damaged in Dallas.'
The devastating storms were caused by cloud cell system which towered nearly 60,000 feet up allowing strong updrafts to occur.
The updrafts sucked air into the storm clouds causing rain droplets to rise high up into the cells-system, where they froze.
However, instead of falling as normal-sized hail, this storm kept the hail inside the clouds until they became so heavy they had to return to the earth – baseball sized.
Luckily no serious injuries were reported as most of those caught in the path of the storm ran for cover, stayed indoors or sought adequate shelter in service stations or even under bridges for the duration of the hail.
Focusing on the clean up, the final cost is expected to exceed the $400 million for the April tornadoes in Texas which hit Arlington and Forney according to Dallas News.
