TAYLOR COUNTY, W.Va. — It sounded like “gunfire” and left parts of Taylor County looking as if a “snowstorm” had hit.
That was one description of the hailstorm that forced many residents near Grafton to spend Friday cleaning up messes while contacting their insurance companies.
“I’ve never seen hail like that,” said David Bolyard, owner and managing director of Bartlett Funeral Home in Grafton.
The storm struck, he said, right before 6 p.m. Thursday.
“When it hit, it blasted about 10, 15 minutes, larger than golf ball-sized hail. (It) busted windows, windshields,” Bolyard reported. The hail size, he said, was no exaggeration.
“It hit me and put a knot on my neck where it actually hit so hard it was like throwing golf balls at you.”
The hail fell in various sizes, from 1.5 inches to 2.5 inches in diameter according to Taylor County emergency official reports, with help from strong winds in a storm system.
Individual residents reported hail the size of softballs.
By many accounts, the most significant hail damage was in central Taylor County — from Blueville through Grafton to Pruntytown.
On Friday, there were no widespread power outages reported in Taylor County and schools were operating on regular schedules.
“It was coming down, but it was almost like it was blowing sideways. The winds were so high that it was bringing it in against the side of the buildings and breaking windows out of houses and buildings and then also doing all the damage to the cars,” Bolyard said.
Before Thursday, “We’ve had hail, but nothing like this,” Bolyard said.