Hail bigger than golf balls hammers eastern Dutchess, closes schools
Hail larger than golf balls began pelting the towns of Pawling and Dover Thursday afternoon, banging up homes, breaking car windshields and piercing crops.
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A quick storm in eastern Dutchess County caused damage that will take a long time to fix.
Hail larger than golf balls began pelting the towns of Pawling and Dover Thursday afternoon, banging up homes, breaking car windshields and piercing crops.
The hail damage, along with the power outages, even forced the Pawling School District to cancel classes and postpone the annual senior trip.
Karen Papernik, of Pawling, said that all of a sudden it seemed like it was "raining rocks." The siding on the north side of her home is peppered with dents, and her garden was left with deep holes.
Her convertible Volkswagen Beetle, which she did not have time to safely drive to a more protected place, was also dinged and is being evaluated at a local auto shop.
"I'm sure everyone's very busy today with their repairs," she said, laughing.
The owners and staff, a couple of miles north at Dykeman Farm in Dover, are also quite busy assessing damages.
Owners Henry and Amanda Dykeman plant excess crops each season, always expecting to lose some to storms and/or animals. They also have crop insurance.
There is no insurance, though, for their greenhouse cover that the hail tore through, hitting the tomato plants inside.
Replacement of the cover is an expensive job that they were not expecting to have to do for another three years.
"We do come prepared for a small portion," Amanda Dykeman said, "but on a larger scale once you have damage to the greenhouse or anything, that's something you never really prepare for because it just historically doesn't happen."
The Dykemans said their cucumber and zucchini crops were seriously affected and their apple crop, which was brought down to about 30 percent by the historic April freeze, is expected to have shrunk further.
Nightshift worker Dylan Clark, of Pawling, says he was awoken by hail hitting his gutters. He said he is glad his Honda SUV was just pelted with hail and not smashed by one of the many pine trees in his yard.
"At the end of the day, what can you do?" he asked. "I'm thankful nothing else happened."
A county spokesperson said the county's 911 center did not receive any reports of anyone being injured by the giant hail.
At 5 p.m Friday, there were still about 600 NYSEG customers in eastern Dutchess County without power, mainly in the Town of Pawling, and NYSEG had not yet posted estimated restoration times for those outages.
State lawmakers surveying the damage on Friday said affected customers who are vulnerable to the heat and do not have generators should call 211 or 800-899-1479 to find the nearest cooling center.
Pawling school district officials said Friday that schools will be reopened on Monday on their regular schedules.
