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Hailstones like tennis balls

phoenix

phoenix

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Well according to one paper that's what we had! photo la Depeche
I didn't actually see them. Outside was just a grey swirl you couldn't actually see anything. The wind was ferocious .

The hailstones broke windows and glass flew across the room. The water got in through windows that closed in any case. About 150 of the roof slates have damage some with holes punched straight through them. The garden is just a scene of devastation with uprooted trees , broken flowers and flattened vegetable plants ; heart breaking as we've spent a long time on it.
We were without electricity for 36 hours (and I think that the EDF worked wonders to get us back that quickly). The local farmers were also brilliant at clearing the roads of fallen trees. Sadly for them their maize and wheat has just been flattened.

But we are OK and we will be fine as long as the insurance pays out for the roof . It was though the most frightening 20 minutes I've ever lived through.
I won't be complaining about British weather in the near future.
Some pics from a local paper; some people were worse off than us.

http://www.centrepresseaveyron.fr/2013/ ... 919695.php
 

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Sounds like you've had an awful time Phoenix :(
 
Blimey phoenix, that really is frightening/scary/unnerving/heart stopping.

I too, am pleased you came out of it physically ok.

Nice to read all the members comments of concern for you in their individual posts.
I'm impressed. :clap:


willie.
 
And here's little old me thinking it was the end of the world when I got caught in a storm of golf ball-sized hailstones last year. Looked like someone had run across the front of our house with a rifle.
 
Thanks everyone,
We've now had a temporary repair to the roof so hopefully we won't get flooded next time it rains. The roofers were 2 women and a man who climbed out of a skylight to patch the holes. I couldn't look at them because the part of the house with most problems must be about 40ft high. Their bill says that they do various types of roofing and 'travaux perilleux ' That about sums it up (and they only charged 180€ for about 3 hours work )
 
phoenix said:
Thanks everyone,
We've now had a temporary repair to the roof so hopefully we won't get flooded next time it rains. The roofers were 2 women and a man who climbed out of a skylight to patch the holes. I couldn't look at them because the part of the house with most problems must be about 40ft high. Their bill says that they do various types of roofing and 'travaux perilleux ' That about sums it up (and they only charged 180€ for about 3 hours work )
Click to expand...


I bet the man sent the women out first :lol:

Pleased you've got things sorted Phoenix!
 
phoenix said:
Some pics from a local paper; some people were worse off than us.
Click to expand...

Looks like something out of Les Revenants

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... leCard.jpg

LesRevenantsTitleCard.jpg
 
Looks like something out of Les Revenants
Well, I heard a story today about a poor donkey and a tree. That sounded just as incredible. We do live in la France profonde.
 
phoenix said:
Looks like something out of Les Revenants
Well, I heard a story today about a poor donkey and a tree. That sounded just as incredible. We do live in la France profonde.
Click to expand...

A category H9 hailstorm by all accounts - I found a list of hail stone sizes. The UK record is a H8

http://www.gbra.org/documents/hazardmit ... 8-Hail.pdf

Intensity is another factor. Although we get golf ball sized hailstones (H7), in 1843 in East Anglia and the Midlands, the intensity was such that the depth of the precipitation was 1.5 metres. A special insurance company was set up to cope with future hail storm damage. It was called the General Hail Insurance Company. It is now called the Norwich Union.
 
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