WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. -- The cars in the parking lot of Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge will be in need of major repairs following Monday’s storm.
But as those car owners told Denver7, it was nothing compared to what they were facing once they walked inside the hospital to visit their loved ones.
The hospital spokesperson said she heard at last count, more than 100 cars were severely damaged. Richard Gilmore rushed to help cover his wife’s car with a tarp. She is a nurse at the hospital and was on shift as the hailstorm ripped through the area.
"Smashed back windshield, blinkers being broken out," Gilmore said. "There's no preventing this kind of thing. It comes all of a sudden and it comes hard."
The golf ball-sized hail pummeled the car, smashing the back windshield.
"Really frustrating. I just put $2,000 into maintenance of this car and replaced entire steering pieces of this car. Here I am, well now it really is totaled," Gilmore said.
His wife wasn’t the only one. Staff members periodically came out to the parking lot to check if their cars had been damaged. By mid-afternoon, the parking lot was peppered with cars draped in plastic tarps or anything to keep the water out, as the rain wouldn't let up.
But for Clay Sewald, it could all wait a minute. His traumatic situation put things in perspective.
"I’m a Colorado native, so I've seen just about everything," Sewald said. “Considering what I'm dealing with here, this doesn't even faze me."
He's been visiting his wife in the hospital for the past ten days.
"To get her home, that's why I bring the kids down here to come see her. Just want to get her out of here. She's having quite a battle."
