Calgarians were still reeling from a wild hail storm Monday night that damaged houses and partially closed the YYC International airport.As of Tuesday morning, the domestic terminal at the airport was partially closed until further notice after hail breached the roof and sent cascades of water and ceiling tiles on panicked passengers..Video posted to social media showed air travellers scrambling for cover as sections of the ceiling came crashing down.In a social media post around 1 AM Tuesday, the airport authority said parts of the terminal building will remain closed until further notice while work to clean up the water and assess the damage is under way.There were no injuries reported..Nonetheless, the airport was expecting delays to both inbound and outbound flights and advised travellers to contact their airlines to confirm the status of their flights.According to a statement from the YYC airport authority: "We are prioritizing the safety of all guests and staff and clearing the impacted area. We are currently assessing the damage and its impact to operations.”An emergency alert issued at 7:57 PM last night waned of torrential rain, intense lightning and baseball-sized hail across southern Alberta..In a statement on Tuesday, Calgary-based WestJet said it was forced to cancel more than 80 flights on Tuesday and that some of its aircraft had suffered “various levels“ of hail damage. .“All WestJet aircraft impacted by the storm are currently undergoing inspections and maintenance, with some aircraft requiring more maintenance due to various levels of hail damage.”Motorists on Deerfoot tried to— in vain — to take cover under overpasses that quickly became inundated with water.The largest hailstones were about 4.5 centimetres in diameter, which is the equivalent of a golf ball.And indeed, Calgary wasn’t the only municipality hammered by the storm as it passed off toward Strathmore leaving a trail of smashed windows and houses in its wake. Wind gusts of 100 km/hr were recorded in Tilley, about 22 km southwest of Brooks.Violent storms in southern Alberta aren’t uncommon. A hailstorm in Calgary in July 2020 caused more than $1.2 billion in damage and ranked as Canada’s fourth-costliest natural disaster..According to Brett Weltman with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, insurance adjusters were already on scene in various locales but the ful extent of insured losses was unknown.“At this point in time, it’s still too early for us to provide an accurate picture in terms of insured losses for this hailstorm,” he said in a email. “We’ll certainly follow up with you once we have information to share.”
