Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells and his family are safe, but their van was severely damaged in an Alberta hailstorm Monday afternoon.

While travelling to Manitoba for a family reunion, the Wells family got caught in a torrential storm, just south of Red Deer, Alta.

Hailstones, some reportedly the size of grapefruits, battered vehicles along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.

Wells posted a Facebook Live video afterwards, showing the extensive damage to his vehicle.

鈥淚t did a pretty good number on the van here,鈥� he says on the video. 鈥淵ou can see the windshield is blown out, dents, dual sunroofs both blown out. Luckily the driver鈥檚 side and passenger side window were not blown out but the rear passenger window鈥� was totally blown out.

鈥淥bviously the main thing is we are safe, we are healthy. Nobody got hurt; just a couple of scratches.鈥�

Wells told Black Press he stopped driving as soon as the first of the hail hit and cracked the windshield.

鈥淲e wrapped ourselves in blankets as soon as it looked like the glass was going to break,鈥� he said. 鈥淕rapefruit-sized hailstones blew out the sunroofs and were trying to smash through the (sunroof) headliner - the interior part that keeps the inside dark. So we were holding that up to keep the hail out and it hurt like heck鈥� if a hailstone hit right where you were holding it, oh my god. My knuckles are all bruised up and stuff from that, but that鈥檚 First World problems.

鈥淲e all got impaled with little pieces of glass and stuff, but a couple of showers, and the kids went swimming - we are OK.鈥�

The family stayed in Red Deer overnight, then made their way to Edmonton Tuesday morning.

鈥淲e have a Jeep Grand Cherokee now - that鈥檚 our rental,鈥� said Wells.

鈥淲e were supposed to be in Edmonton Monday night, so we will stay here for a couple of days before making our way to (Manitoba).鈥�

Wells said the car - which is his mother鈥檚 - is likely a write-off.

鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 officially been assessed yet, but there are hundreds and hundreds of cars damaged, so who knows when they will get around to it.鈥�

terry.farrell@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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