Cleanup, damage assessment underway after Winnipeg thunderstorm and hail

Winnipeggers were left surveying the damage and cleaning up after a thunderstorm rolled through the city Thursday afternoon.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the largest hail reports took place at 4:30 to 4:50 p.m., with Lindenwoods seeing toonie-sized hail.

Residents in Charleswood reported loonie-sized hail, while Whyte Ridge reported nickel-sized hail.

Several people shared photos of hail pooling on their lawns or decks, looking like snow in May.

It wasn’t just homes and yards impacted. At least one car dealership has reported hail damage.

“It’s not good having millions of dollars of product sitting outside as hail falls,” said Kyle Campbell, fixed operations managed for Mid-Town Ford.

Campbell said many of the cars in the new and used vehicle lots have received dents from the hail, and the dealership is in the process of seeing what repairs are needed.

“You have to assess the damage and get a paintless dent repair person in here to come out, have a look at some of the areas to be fixed or kind of assess which vehicles needs to be fully painted,” he said.

MPI receives significant amount of damage claims

Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) has been kept busy dealing with hail-related claims.

A spokesperson for the Crown corporation said as of Friday afternoon, they had received nearly 1,150 hail-related claims related to the storm in Winnipeg and surrounding areas.

“These figures may not reflect all potential claims from this weather event as customers continue to open claims,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.

City of Winnipeg crews were also busy Friday morning.

As of 11:30 a.m., city workers responded to 76 requests related to flooded streets and ditches, 28 requests related to flooded basements, 15 requests related to traffic signal malfunctions and 13 requests related to downed trees or broken branches.