Severe Hailstorm

[Purdey]

Did anyone experience the hailstorm last Sunday evening, particularly in the Mirepoix area, which caused so much damage locally to property and vehicles? 

[Gemini_man]

erm, doesn't look like it :)

but i have read about it: http://www.ariegenews.com/news/news-1-1-2693.html

extreme hailstorms can be very very local and often seem to sweep along a valley leaving a trail of destruction behind them but not touching either side of the valley. i've experienced two in the Dordogne which lasted 5/10 minutes, destroyed or damaged many rooves in their path and shredded leaves off trees so the roads were like a green carpet but have cut a swathe no more than half a kilometre wide. the first one i encountered left my car with a bad case of cellulite all over - not nice  :(

[Purdey]

We left the area on Sunday afternoon, a few hours before the storm, and had a phone call after our return to the UK telling us about it.  It caused a great deal of damage, apparently the body repair centres are full of badly dented cars and  the  rubbish dump has lots of wet roof insulation etc. An old garden table of ours was completely shattered and we have a few holes in our tiles. Luckily a friend or ours who is a builder has taken a look and dealt with it.

[St Bernard]

We live 25 minutes north west of Mirepoix and missed the worst of the storm. However we have friends around Mirepoix who suffered badly. We know people who had windows broken (including Velux windows), car bodywork dented, car windscreens smashed, awnings shredded etc. Also, some people lost all their flowering plants and all the blossom and new leaves on trees destroyed. Damage was widespread from the Mirepoix area heading west with the Pamiers area badly affected. When a friend of ours went to the car windscreen repair place at Pamiers on monday morning, she was the 40th person to do so.

 

Mind you, it's been gloriously sunny and hot ever since but that's no consolation for those who were affected.

 

Jan Laury

[AnOther]

We are about 20m west of Cahors and our house, which we only bought this year, apparently suffered major hail damage in 2004 resulting in a completely new roof for both it, and the adjacent barn, which has corrugated asbestos panels.

Great for us of course but let's hope for no recurrence...!

They even had such a storm in Dubai back in the 80's and some of the damage done to cars was unbelievable.

[Sunshine]

Hi Ernie

We live about 20km north of Cahors and storms and hail storms are quite common in the area.  We know when we are in for bad weather when the wind whips up, within 10-20 mins it is followed by high winds and rain.  They usually only last for a short time.

We batten down the hatches (shutters) grab the most important thing - wine and 2 glasses, and wait for the wind to calm down.  There is a car in our village that has a servere bout of achne caused by a storm. 

Make sure you are covered on your insurance!...

 

[AnOther]

You've got me scared now [:-))]

I'll be worried to death each time I take my MGB out, especially as it has an aluminium bonnet which you can dent just by looking at it.

I can see I'm going to be have to become an avid and expert weather watcher !

[St Bernard]

Or park it in the garage! It's amazing how many of the cars that were damaged could have been parked in a garage.