Residents still waiting for repairs from last week’s storm

Several days after hail storms damaged dozens of homes and hundreds of vehicles, many residents are still waiting to get repairs.

Body shops say they’re booked for weeks, if not months, while insurance adjusters say they’re making progress with their caseload, but with the sheer demand their visits are also taking time.

The USAA deployed its Catastrophe Response Team to help, citing 15,000 claims filed since Thursday night.

“They can come here, make a claim, start the process and walk through any questions they might have about their auto or home insurance policy and move on from there,” said spokesman Rich Johnson.

That team is at the JCPenny’s parking lot on Powers in Colorado Springs.

Many others are using their own companies, but also say it is taking time.

“Our cars, they haven’t gotten back to us yet. The home, they did respond kinda quick. We have them coming out this week, hopefully they give us some good word instead of something negative we don’t want to hear,” said George Maldonado.

His home took a severe beating. The siding of his home in Colorado Springs has dozens of holes from hail impacts, a broken window and even a pelted Broncos mailbox in the front yard.

“The hail was definitely not a Broncos fan,” he said.

His neighbors didn’t fare much better. Further down the street drivers are waiting to get insurance estimates and appointments to body shops.

“I just bought the truck, that’s the tough part to swallow,” said Brian Lacosse, who hopes to get his truck into a shop by Friday. His vehicle suffered extensive damage that hasn’t been repaired yet.

Many of them understand the delay but admit it’s difficult not being able to get the repairs done. And with more storms in the forecast, they’re just hoping this will be the worst of it.

“Get it out of the way, I don’t need no more damage,” Maldonado said.