Today marks the second anniversary of the Great San Antonio Hail Storm of 2016, which remains the most destructive hail storm in Texas history, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Mark Hanna of the Insurance Council of Texas, says total insured damages from the April 12, 2016 hailstorm, which rumbled across north San Antonio and Bexar County, were $1.4 billion.
He says the storm was so destructive because it was so big.
"Most hailstorms will spring up, they will hit a small area, and then dissipate and lose their strength," Hanna said. "For this storm to have traveled sixty miles and be as wide as six miles is totally unusual. "The storm spawned in Bandera County and continued to grow, roaring through northwest, north, and northeast San Antonio, smashing windows, shredding roofs, and destroying businesses.
The storm actually moved east into Comal and Guadalupe Counties, continuing its damage. The storm damaged thousands of homes and tens of thousands of vehicles. Hanna says the hailstorm kept body shops busy for months.
"The auto repair shops, there were not enough shops to handle all the vehicles," he said. "Thousands of autos had to be towed by the insurance companies to body shops in Houston and Austin for repairs."
And that wasn't it. San Antonio got hit again by hail storms on April 25 and 29, causing an additional $600 million in losses, for a $2 billion month of April.
PHOTO: ROSE LAND. PROVIDED BY ICT