WISE COUNTY, Texas — The remaining rainwater is just one of the signs around homes in Wise County, where neighbor after neighbor is trying to recover from Monday's hailstorm.
Vaughn Cambridge and his family live in Decatur on a couple of acres. They knew a storm was on the way because Cambridge pays attention to the forecast.
"I know Pete had said something about hail," Cambridge said. "Maybe some golf ball size or a little smaller."
Cambridge relocated to Decatur, Texas several years ago after retiring from the United States military and his law enforcement job. He and his family have fallen in love with what he describes as country living. Their home sits on about two acres, where he and his neighbors look out for each other and their homes, even though they are football fields apart in some cases.
Cambridge believes Pete was right and then some, after witnessing the damage the hail left behind. He even found real golf balls outside his home, which seemingly came out of nowhere but didn't compare to the hail outside his home.
"I opened up the front door at one point and I saw hail probably a little bigger than golf balls, and they were coming down thick and heavy. They were bouncing on the ground, hit and bounced six to eight feet back up," said Cambridge.
Hail left dents all over his pickup truck. The skylights on his detached garage are broken. Windows under the tarps around his house are shattered, electrical outlets busted, his line of driveway lights are broken, the roof is damaged and so are the gutters.
Cambridge noticed roof repair sales representatives from different companies in their neighborhood as early as 4:00 a.m. Tuesday after Monday's hailstorm.
Almost every neighbor has a roof repair sign in the front yard, which indicates the homeowner has had a visit with a sales representative from that particular company.
The last major storm that rolled through their area spared several houses, including Cambridge's home. But this time he believes everyone suffered property damage, even if just a few windows were broken.
During the storm Cambridge and his family also witnessed what looked like the winds carrying the hail sideways, crashing into his neighbors' homes. Just like Cambridge's family, the community realizes more winter weather is on the way.
"When you live out here it's kind of what you do. I call it Decatur storm season," said Cambridge.
Fortunately, despite the widespread damage in pockets of Wise County, Cambridge has not heard any reports of anyone being injured in the storm.