All hail! Many houses in Kirklin damaged by hail storm

KIRKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — Right in the middle of town, a grand old house that has stood the test of many Indiana storms, took a beating. The siding on Doug Gillespie’s 140-year-old home is in shambles.  

“This was bad baseball-sized hail and wind, and it started out as pea-sized, and then around three o’clock, it just increased to where it was beating on the house and beating on the windshields. It was pretty traumatizing,” said Gillespie.  

The new metal roof on one of his outbuildings is going to need work. His pick-up truck has fresh pox marks on the hood, courtesy of the storm and a big crack through the windshield  

“We were worried about some of it coming through the roof. It was hard and it was harsh,” said Gillespie. 

Just down the street, Jason Amich and his wife stood on the front porch and watched the storm roll in town.  

“This is the worst storm I have ever seen,” said Amich.

The storm barreled across the Indiana fields. The hail started small, like the size of a pea, but in seconds, grew to the size of baseballs. 

When the sky cleared, he had a couple of broken windshields and some damage to his roof, but his two Harley Davidson motorcycles, which were outside and covered by small nylon awning, were untouched 

On almost every street, cars are covered with tarps and neighbors gathered in their yards comparing the damage. The owner of a Prius believes his hybrid is probably totaled. The roof of his house didn’t fair much better. The damage left behind by 20 minutes of baseball-sized hail certainly left a mark. Out on the westside of Kirklin, we found 19-year-old found Connor Lunsford, who said this storm is one for the record books.

“I started hearing some hail go down. I looked out the window and it started out real small, and just started getting bigger and bigger, and eventually, I found one the size of my hand and I was like oh crap and when I saw them hitting the truck, I was like ‘that’s a lot of damage,’” said Lunsford.