KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Northland residents are dealing with hail damage to their vehicles, roofs and other property after a storm blew through the area Tuesday.
The windshields damaged or destroyed by the hail have auto glass shops working overtime to keep up with the demand for repairs or replacements.
Parkville resident Ethan Lenhardt described watching the storm roll in.
"We came out to look and we just saw like giant ice balls coming out of the sky," Lenhardt said.
He says the hail was massive.
"They were like the size of my fists, some of them," Lenhardt said. "It was insane. I haven't seen anything like that ever."
Lenhardt didn't realize the storm had claimed his car's windshield until he got back to the car.
"My wife pointed out, she's like, 'look at that."' "And I was like, 'oh man, my windshield's all cracked,"' Lenhardt said.
The cost of repairs weighed on him, but he said it could have been worse.
Lenhardt is far from alone.
Driving around Parkville on Wednesday, KSHB 41 News reporter Fernanda Silva said she saw many broken windshields.
At CNC Auto Glass, Cade Cox, the shop manager, said the storm kept his team busy all day. The shop saw an almost 75% increase in customers and worked on about 40 cars.
"When I heard the plinking of the hail hitting my roof and watching it hitting the street, I knew today was going to be pretty busy," Cox said.
Busy turned out to be an understatement.
"It's just been unreal," Cox said. "It's just been pandemonium, to say the least."
Cox described the surge as both a blessing and a curse.
"We don't really want to complain or nag about it because we know we're very fortunate to be here to help everybody out," Cox said. "But the job's got to get done. So that's what we're here to do. It's just the overall volume is just too much."
The shop is not expecting business to slow down anytime soon.
"We have tomorrow and the next day are packed to the rafters, schedule wise," Cox said. "I'm assuming the next seven days are going to be pretty hectic around here."
Cox said the team plans to work until every car is taken care of — and may even add weekend hours.
For now, Cox said repair supplies are still available.
"As we can get windows, we can help people out," Cox said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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