Violent hailstorm smashes 4,500 new cars at Nebraska dealership

Even by Tornado Alley standards, the hail storm that hit Blair, Neb., on Tuesday was a whopper, with tennis-ball-sized chunks of ice pounding the town for 15 minutes. Some 27 people were injured, hundreds of homes and buildings damaged and scores of windows broken. And the biggest hit landed at the local mega car dealer, which estimates nearly 4,500 new cars and trucks suffered some $10 million in damage.

The Woodhouse Auto Family dealership chain has its flagship Ford and Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep stores in Blair, with $152 million in new-vehicle inventory — all of which was sitting outside Tuesday when the storm blew in. In one video recorded by employees and posted to the dealership's Facebook page, the hail sounds like a storm of buckshot hitting the roof.