‘Porch is completely gone’: Hail storm leaves Florida homes damaged, windows broken
Hail and wind made for a damaging combination in Brevard County. Several homeowners in a mobile home park in Melbourne were dealing with cleanup Wednesday.
By Bob Hazen & Hayley Crombleholme
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BREVARD COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — Hail and wind made for a damaging combination in Brevard County.
Several homeowners in a mobile home park in Melbourne were dealing with cleanup Wednesday.
“We went through two hurricanes last year and this does not compare to either one of them,” Chris Sorbin, who lives in the community, said. “Maybe even both put together.”
What stuck out most to her about the severe weather seemed to be the sound.
“We didn’t even know it was coming,” Sorbin said. “We heard the train. We heard the debris hitting our house. We heard the hail, and it was probably two feet deep in some spots. It was very scary.”
And after it passed, pieces of other homes littered her yard and driveway.
“All this debris is not even from our home; it’s from the home behind me,” Sorbin said. “Her sun porch is completely gone. That is her ceiling fan and her curtains.”
And she has damage to deal with too.
“We lost half of our the top to our Lanai and our gutters on both sides and I have some windows broken in the back and hail damage to my car,” Sorbin said.
Driving through Melbourne, our crews saw hail piled up on the roads and flooding in some parking lots.
In the mobile home park, there were palm trees snapped in half, leaves and metal siding littered the roads.
“Just literally came out of nowhere,” said Lisa Wilbert, another resident of the community.
“The hail was incredible,” Wilbert said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
You could still see it piled outside her front door, but the hail will melt. She has bigger headaches to handle.
“It lifted these chairs, these rocking chairs up and over almost over the railing of the thing. And then we heard the crashing sounds,” Wilbert said. “Realized that it was something more than a chair moving.”
It ripped apart her carport. She says the cleanup is going to take a while.
“We’re both disabled and old but still, it’s going to take a lot of work,” Wilbert said.
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