BILLINGS — Residents from all over the Billings area surveyed the damage to their properties Tuesday, following Monday night's severe storms.
Those storms, which began around 10:30 p.m., brought rain, hail and powerful winds to the area, leaving destruction in their wake.
Watch this video to see the damage:
Among the residents impacted were the Kerr family, whose home is located in the Crystal Spring subdivision in southwest Billings.
"It woke me up," Sara Kerr said Tuesday morning. "I couldn't believe it. It sounded like bullets were hitting the front windows in our home."
Sara Kerr said it awoke her family on Monday and that she'd never seen hail that large before.
"I mean, it was really scary," Sara said. "I've been through a lot of hail, different hail and stuff like that in my life, but I've never seen anything like that."
Her daughter, Kandi Kerr, was also staying at her parents' home to help them dog sit. The hail covered her vehicle in dents and cracked her windshield. She said it was a helpless feeling when the storm began.
"When you're standing there and you're feeling helpless because you know your stuff is being destroyed, it's heartbreaking," Kandi said. "I'm not going to lie, it's heartbreaking."
The Kerr family also had damage to their fences, gutters, windows and the family garden. Even still, they know it could've been worse.
"Overall, my parents got pretty lucky," Kandi said. "One of the neighbors, all the windows on the back of their house are broke. Every single one of them. The other neighbor, all of the top windows on their house are broke."
And that was the theme all across the city. Residents located on Broadwater Avenue between Third and Fourth street west sent videos of flash flooding in their neighborhood to MTN. They claimed that water had crept into their homes.
In the Heights, there was more hail piling up and damaging homes, with many neighborhoods looking like a winter wonderland Tuesday morning.
It's been a helpless cleanup all over Billings, with residents doing what they can to move on.
"There was nothing we could do," Sara said. "You just gotta deal with the insurance people and do the cleanup and just do what you have to do."
