Colorado's costliest hailstorm caused $2.3 billion in damage
The most destructive hailstorm in Colorado's history pounded the Front Range on May 8, 2017. Cities like Denver saw the costliest hailstorm in history.
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DENVER, Colo. – Coloradans are used to frozen precipitation falling from the sky. But it wasn't snow that caused $2.3 billion in damage. It was hail.
"Colorado's most expensive insured catastrophe" took place on May 8, 2017.
Rachel Norton hangs onto a large box as she navigates piles of hail along Larimer street on the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus after a pounding hail storm ripped through the area on May 8, 2017 in Denver, Colorado.
(Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The monster hailstorm pounded Colorado's Front Range, filling streets with hail that looked like a winter snowstorm.
People navigate piles of hail and standing water along Larimer street on the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus after a pounding hail storm ripped through the area on May 8, 2017 in Denver, Colorado.
(Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Hail as big as golf balls shattered windows, damaged cars and put holes through many properties.
A home near 51st Ave and Clay St., one of many that sustained major hail damage from Monday's storm May 9, 2017 in Denver, Colorado.
(Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The fast-moving storm hit at the beginning of rush hour, damaging many vehicles along roads across the area.
State Farm catastrophe claims specialist Jeremiah Stombaugh looks at the damage to the Audi A4 owned by Bill Durnall of Littleton at their remote site in parking lot N, Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Durnall was caught near Federal and I-76 west in the May 8 hailstorm.
(Joe Amon/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The National Insurance Crime Bureau says that approximately 167,000 auto and 100,600 homeowners' insurance claims were filed due to the severe weather.
In downtown Denver, hail blanketed Coors Field before the Rockies took on the Cubs.
Hail blankets the field as preparation begins for a game between the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago Cubs.
(Matthew Stockman/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Photos showed workers shoveling the hail off the covered field.
Colorado Rockies grounds crew works hard to clear the field from the hail before the game against the Chicago Cubs game on May 8, 2017 in Denver, Colorado at Coors Field. The grounds worked hard to clear some of the hail off the tarp.
(John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Further west in Lakewood, the Colorado Mills Mall was severely damaged and forced to close. Hoses needed to be hooked up to dry out the property because the storm caused the roof to collapse.
Lakewood, CO - MAY 9: Jesus Munoz, of Professional Restoration, hooks up hoses to dry out the Colorado Mills Mall on May 9, 2017 in Lakewood, Colorado.
(RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"I never thought hail could cause that much damage," FOX Weather social media producer Joe Dahlke said. "I think about hail damage on the cars but never inside buildings."
Dahlke said the hail also damaged several high-end vehicles in Lakewood.
The NICB says that the next closest hailstorm didn't even come close – $767.6 million on July 20, 2009.
"Colorado's most damaging hailstorm demonstrates the magnitude of the damage that can result from a single storm," says Carole Walker, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
Broken windows from Monday's huge hail storm at Beach Court Elementary school at 49th and Beach Ct.
(Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)