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Bumpkin Bears
What a night! We woke up to a thunderstorm at 3am which soon turned into the most extraordinary hail storm I've ever seen! The hail balls were the size of tennis balls, no joking!! We've had a lot of damage to the house, the plastic all around the edge of our house looks like it's been eaten by giant caterpillars! Our roof has got some damage and our garden looks like a mad man went round with a chain saw, all my lovely plants and flowers 
My cold frame is completely smashed and any pots I had out are all broken. I have never heard noise like it, pretty frightening really. It seems like we were right in the centre of the storm, the next door village didn't have any at all! Most important is that we are ok and my cats are sleeping off a noisy night! Lots more photos on my blog -
http://bumpkinbears.blogspot.com/
Fingers crossed it doesn't come back anymore, it's getting very dark again... 
Hugs
Catherine x
Bubble Up Bears!Oh my goodness!
Did you have any warning?!!
That's terrible news of all the damages. Especially your flowers.
I'm going to check out your blog for more photos.
I've never seen anything like it especially here in Southern California.
Thank goodness you are OK. 
DoodlebearsOh Catherine, what a fright and all the damage, I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope it doesn't return and you don't get any further damage to your home or garden. I hope it doesn't cost too much for the repairs.
Hugs, Jane. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
TeenytinyteddybearsYour poor garden. Poor you :hug: :hug: We get big hailstorms in South Africa too. Very frightening. Always so much damage to cars and homes. Pleased your cats were ok though. Will hold thumbs it doesn't come back.
Boechout, AntwerpHi Catherine,
So sorry to hear about all the damage to your house and garden.
I must admit that I was pretty scared last night as well. I woke at 3.15 AM and started pacing around the house to check if there was any damage or flooding of the basement. Luckily we didn't get the hail stones like you did, but the lightning bolts were very frightening : it seemed as though someone was flicking a light switch on and off constantly; I have never seen anything like it.
This morning, before going to work I checked to see how bad the damage was and it doesn't seem too bad, although all the garden plants and flowers are down. It's still very grey and threatening here, but I hope the worst is over.
Thank heavens you and your loved ones (cats and fiancé, not necessarily in that order) are alright; the rest can be fixed.
Hugs, :hug:
PS. Catherine wasn't exaggerating : these are some of the hail stones that fell last night :
Past Time BearsWow, Peter and Catherine, what an awful experience! Sorry about all the damage, but glad no two or four footed beings were hurt. We get hail storms with pea on up to softball sized stones periodically during the spring. A few years ago, we came home from a pro basketball game in Dallas to what looked like a foot of snow on the ground. The stones weren't huge, but it had hailed so much that it really looked like snow and our enclosed back porch/room was totally flooded. Hope your home and garden are back to normal in due time.
Angela's Bear GardenThat must have been very frightening! 
We had a storm like that in Niagara-on-the-Lake several years ago, including a tornado...it stayed mostly in the country area so no homes were badly damaged, just some greenhouses, and crops. Most of the peach crop was lost that year(big losses). There were several car dealerships that had some bad damage on cars, you can imagine that size of hail hitting a car, the cars looked like they had a disease like smallpocks! Lots of repairs needed!
I'm glad your safe 
Bumpkin Bearsthanks everyone, it certainly was very scarey, never heard a noise like it or seen lightening so much. The more we have looked today the more damage we are finding on our home, I think a large portion of the roof will have to be replaced and all the edging has great holes in it! Our verenda has holes all across the roof.. Luckily our car was in the garage, any cars that were out are indeed covered with huge round dents, windows smashed..... like a war zone here! I'm so glad you didn't get the hail stones Peter, I am sure your bears were frightened with all that lightening, I know my cats were!! We've had the fire engines down here sorting other roofs out with loose tiles. Our little village turns out to be one of the worst hit in Belgium and we were on the news! We are lucky when you see what others have had, lightening setting fire to homes, trees falling into the middle of houses! Now we are having to take lots of photos for the insurance and just hope we can get enough help for all the repairs. 
Hugs
Catherine x
Boechout, AntwerpNow we are having to take lots of photos for the insurance and just hope we can get enough help for all the repairs.
If you need any help with the repairs, just let me know and I will come round with my two sturdy helpers, Lewis & Bailey and we'll have your house fixed in no time !
Hugs, :hug:
Peter and these two chaps :
Hi Catherine,
That is amazing! Your hail storm looks really frightening. Glad that you and your cats were safe
but sorry about all the damage to your property.
Only last week Mount Manganui, a seaside City was hit by a big hail storm and the beach was covered in whiteness.
there were people skiing behind cars along the beach and it looked so strange.
Makes you wonder what is going on around the world.
I remember Sophie, from France saying that they had had a big hail storm also.
Hugs
Carolyn
ps. Peter, your bears look happy, on their comfy sofas.
Sophie Z'OursVery scary, isn't it?
We had almost the same in my village and surroundings the 7th of may this year.
Only three or four hugs hailstones hit our home, but the main damages occured only a few hundred meters far from home, mostly on the hill at the exit of our village, were our friends live. The road on the hill was covered in green with pieces of trees, pieces of leaves and lots of hailstones the size of ping pong balls on the road sides still a couple of hours after the hail storm.
Our friend's greenhouse top was all broken, a few of his home roof tiles were broken, his car has got lots of impacts, and of course, lots of damages to his plants too...
The halstorm was 500 m wide and a few km long.
A bigger hailstorm crossed our country the 25th of may, that same one that visited without invite Catherine and produced lots of damages in a few parts of France, south west to north. Hailstones were almost the size of a tennis ball.
This hailstorm appeared in area where there never used to have any hailstorm usualy...
Beary hugs,
Sophie.
Bumpkin BearsI actually saw about the hail storm in France on the news, so sorry it was where you and your friends where - it is unbelievable really - the roads here and area are too covered in green from leaves and torn off branches. Awwww Peter, what a darling photo of Lewis and Bailey offering to help, they look far too cosy and comfy to disturb them and I do not think they have a great head for heights - probably inherited that from me 
Contacting roofing companies (as well as trying to find someone for rolluikens/safely blinds) to try and get quotes for the insurance company - So much falls to my fiance at times like this, I do speak Dutch (as Peter knows), but not confident enough to deal with these kind of things on the phone - would probably end up ordering the wrong thing and ending up with a pink roof or something 
Today the weather is completely calm thank goodness - the weather turns on us so quickly nowadays..
Catherine x
Oh how frightening, don't think I ever saw hail like that size before and which caused so much damage!! At least you are ok but it's the pain of having to contact insurance and get things fixed up! :hug: :hug:
Pauline
puca bearsMy sympathies to all those affected by the latest round of SCAREY storms..............
seems that these extreme weather events are getting more and more frequent, all over the world!
Catherine - you were lucky to all be indoors - we had a severe hail storm three years back, and our poor cat was outside...............didn't see her again for HOURS - fortunately, no physical damage, but since then she is TERRIFIED of any loud noises. She has turned into a very accurate storm early warning system - the minute she dives under the table, growling, we know bad weather is on the way.
I remember reading in the local paper , an article on these severe hail storms - said that they were really uncommon...........and on the same page, there was a report on a second (in a few days) local one!?!
We got caught out in a really severe storm three weeks or so ago - and read the next day that the storm system had dumped FIFTY cm of hail somewhere to the south of us - they had to get snow ploughs out to clear the roads.........
but right now, the sun is shining..........
huggies
Maria
Bumpkin Bears
the world's weather sure is going crazy isn't it!! Our whole village is full of ladders for roofs, windows being fixed..... we have just had a chap come round to give an estimate for our veranda and the edging all round our house - see what kind of holes the hail made in it in the photo! Incredible that hail can smash roof tiles too!
gosh Maria, you must have so worried with your cat being outdoors in that storm, thank goodness she was ok. My little girl cat Phoebe hears thunder miles away and goes straight under the bed and she will not come out until it's completely over! You can imagine how wide their eyes were with fear the other night - thunder, lightning (30,000 strikes measured that night!) and then the sound of canon balls hammering the house!!
Back to the garden clear up... I sadly just found a dove that had been killed with a big round hole in her side 
They are always round my garden, poor little thing.
THANKS for all your hugs, much appreciated,
Catherine x
Hug A Bye BearsHi Catherine ,
Sorry to hear about the destruction caused by the storm you must have been terrified!
I'm glad that you're ok though, hope it all gets fixed very soon,
Hugs Ginie-Lee xx
