Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells and his family are safe, but their van was severely damaged in an Alberta hailstorm Monday afternoon.
While travelling to Manitoba for a family reunion, the Wells family got caught in a torrential storm, just south of Red Deer, Alta.
Hailstones, some reportedly the size of grapefruits, battered vehicles along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.
Wells posted a Facebook Live video afterwards, showing the extensive damage to his vehicle.
乌鸦传媒淚t did a pretty good number on the van here,乌鸦传媒� he says on the video. 乌鸦传媒淵ou can see the windshield is blown out, dents, dual sunroofs both blown out. Luckily the driver乌鸦传媒檚 side and passenger side window were not blown out but the rear passenger window乌鸦传媒� was totally blown out.
乌鸦传媒淥bviously the main thing is we are safe, we are healthy. Nobody got hurt; just a couple of scratches.乌鸦传媒�
Wells told Black Press he stopped driving as soon as the first of the hail hit and cracked the windshield.
乌鸦传媒淲e wrapped ourselves in blankets as soon as it looked like the glass was going to break,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淕rapefruit-sized hailstones blew out the sunroofs and were trying to smash through the (sunroof) headliner - the interior part that keeps the inside dark. So we were holding that up to keep the hail out and it hurt like heck乌鸦传媒� if a hailstone hit right where you were holding it, oh my god. My knuckles are all bruised up and stuff from that, but that乌鸦传媒檚 First World problems.
乌鸦传媒淲e all got impaled with little pieces of glass and stuff, but a couple of showers, and the kids went swimming - we are OK.乌鸦传媒�
The family stayed in Red Deer overnight, then made their way to Edmonton Tuesday morning.
乌鸦传媒淲e have a Jeep Grand Cherokee now - that乌鸦传媒檚 our rental,乌鸦传媒� said Wells.
乌鸦传媒淲e were supposed to be in Edmonton Monday night, so we will stay here for a couple of days before making our way to (Manitoba).乌鸦传媒�
Wells said the car - which is his mother乌鸦传媒檚 - is likely a write-off.
乌鸦传媒淚t hasn乌鸦传媒檛 officially been assessed yet, but there are hundreds and hundreds of cars damaged, so who knows when they will get around to it.乌鸦传媒�
terry.farrell@comoxvalleyrecord.com
Like us on and follow us on
