Repair contractors hit neighborhoods almost as hard and fast as the massive thunderstorm that pelted Commerce City, Brighton and eastern Colorado with 3-inch-diameter hail Wednesday afternoon.
And while some people said the damage to their vehicles and homes took their breath away, it was the mass descent of repair solicitors that really annoyed them.
“They were like vultures; you didn’t have a chance to absorb what happened and they’re there,” said Jamie Aragon, as she carefully pulled personal items from her wrecked 2006 Chevrolet Equinox on Thursday morning. “I understand the storm. It’s nature, it’s life; there’s no getting away from it.”
The first big storm of the hail season attracted the attention of roof, car and window repair contractors who were trolling neighborhoods for repair jobs.
On Thursday, a Commerce City Neighborhood Service group passed out information advising the would-be contractors that a city ordinance prohibits door-to-door soliciting.
The contractors will be given a warning the first time, but repeat offenders will be ticketed.
“They can drop off information but can’t talk to the homeowners,” Commerce City spokesman Ross Hilker said.
Damage cost estimates for the Wednesday storm probably won’t be available until early next week.
Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, said hailstorms are among the most expensive of natural disasters.
“Hail is the most insured catastrophe because it’s widespread damage,” Walker said.
In 2009, two Denver hailstorms and one in Pueblo caused $1.4 billion in damage, Walker said.
Aragon was at work Wednesday when her children, who are on summer break, called to tell her about windows exploding in their home.
Aragon said she couldn’t believe the thick blanket of hail piled on streets, sidewalks and lawns in her neighborhood, Foxton Village, and gasped when she saw the damage to her home, yard and vehicle.
While Aragon cleaned up, Jerry Schafer, president of Schafer Roofing Inc. in Arvada, inspected her roof for damage.
“The tiles were pretty beat up,” Schafer said. “It was a pretty extreme storm, and a ballpark figure to repair will be about $17,000.”
Nikolay Demchencko said he got tired of answering the door after solicitors started ringing his doorbell Wednesday afternoon.
Demchencko held up a fist full of fliers and business cards left by solicitors.
His beloved blue 2006 Nissan Sentra had countless dings, shattered windows and a cracked bumper. Another family car suffered a similar fate.
His mother’s vegetable and rose gardens were shredded, and damage to the family home was substantial.
“There’s not much we can do,” Demchencko said, shaking his head.
Annette Espinoza: 303-954-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com
