Hail, dented cars and downed trees: costs of Friday's storm piling up

Winds calmed, hail melted and the power came back on but the damage from Friday's severe thunderstorm remains in large swaths of Ottawa's west end.

Chris Therrier, an insurance broker at the World Financial Group Insurance Agency, didn't have an exact number of claims from the storm but said already this year is busier for him than last year.

"I would say a lot of claims. I don't have a number and data but from what we've seen there are many damages and many claims still getting addressed," he said.

Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning Friday but downgraded it to a watch shortly before 5 p.m.

The region was also briefly placed under a tornado warning at around 7 p.m. but that was downgraded shortly after.

Hydro Ottawa called the storm a "multi-day restoration event," with more than 10,000 customers without power Friday night as a result of damage caused by the storm.

The City of Ottawa reported more than 110 tree-related service requests have been received and said crews are removing debris as part of the cleanup effort. 

"City staff have been working diligently to ensure roads and sidewalks are accessible and that immediate hazards are removed," said Jim Lethbridge, the city's area manager of emergency planning and response, in a statement.

"Crews have addressed priority service requests and have completed road patrols to identify streets and sidewalks requiring sweeping operations." 

Residents with tree debris are encouraged to bring it to the curb because the city plans to start collecting this week. 

Pricey fixes for vehicles

Bemac Auto Body's Joe Frangione said hopefully 90 per cent of the vehicles brought into his shop for repair can be fixed using a less expensive technique that doesn't require paint to fix dents, but still estimates the damage from the storm to be costly.

"It's case-by-case, it all depends on replacing panels, it's really difficult to say right now," he said, adding on average, repairs are costing each person $7,000 to $10,000. 

"We've probably seen about 50 [vehicles] since Friday afternoon and expect a lot more."

Frangione said there's not much drivers can do to protect their vehicles from hail damage outside of parking in a garage.

"In terms of repairing it, schedule your appointment as soon as possible, this could take up to a year to clean up," he said.

Paul Stacey, a Westboro homeowner who had trees, his house and vehicle damaged by the storm, said the cost of repairing his car would be between $7,500 and $10,000 "just for dimples everywhere."

"Never seen hail like that before, it was probably an-inch-and-a-half, two-inch-size coming down," he said. 

"It was pretty scary."