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WATCH: Stettler resident waited out hail storm in her car

Donna Morris recalls hail pelting and cracking her windshield

This week’s hail storm was a harrowing experience for most, particularly those caught out in it.

Donna Morris was heading into town on Highway 12. “I said to my kids, look across the slough - you can see where it’s raining,” she recalled. Things rapidly changed after that as what appeared to be an approaching rain storm escalated into hail.

“It was like baseballs hitting my window,” she said. “By the time we got pulled over onto the road, I couldn’t see anything. It was coming from every direction.”

Morris’s car took a huge beating, with dents all over and a severely cracked windshield.

She can’t recall such a damaging hail storm.

“My dad said this isn’t the worst he’s ever been through, but this is the worst I’ve ever been, especially in a vehicle. I thought for sure our window was going to fall onto our laps,” she said.

Christine Neufeld recalled being stuck behind Walmart when the storm struck.

“I stopped to take a picture of the sky - it was weird. One half was sunny, and the other half was a pure black cloud,” she recalled. “It was brutal and I couldn’t see down the highway.

“I turned in front of the Ramada, and it was like a bucket of marbles had just fallen on my car. I was literally sitting in my car with my hands over my head because I was thinking, what if my sunroof breaks?”

Neufeld then made her way behind Walmart into their shipping area for protection. “So I didn’t get too much damage on my truck.”

Meanwhile, there is damage to her home and garage which she shares with her husband Brian.

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Windshield on Donna Morris’s car.
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Christine Neufeld holds up a small bag of hailstones collected from her yard. Mark Weber/Stettler Independent
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Damage to the side of the Old Court House at the Stettler Museum was severe. Mark Weber/Stettler Independent
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More damage to one of the buildings at the Stettler Museum. Mark Weber/Stettler Independent


Mark Weber

About the Author: Mark Weber

I've been a part of the Black Press Media family for about a dozen years now, with stints at the Red Deer Express, the Stettler Independent, and now the Lacombe Express.
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