By: Adriana Gasiewski
Top Story Apr 16, 2026 Posted Apr 16, 2026 at 3: 54 PM Updated 17 mins ago at 4: 14 PM While attending the opening of Techno Scout Inc. in Solon on April 15, Mayor Eddy Kraus noticed the clouds began to grow darker. Attendees then either went inside the facility at 6251 Davis Industrial Parkway or began heading to their rooms. Understanding that he should return home, Kraus decided to leave the opening and began driving down Davis Industrial Parkway, when suddenly he began to hear loud smacks on his vehicle. “The top, the windows – it was almost like someone was throwing hard baseballs at the car, and the smacks were so loud that I was kind of like shaking,” Kraus told the Cleveland Jewish News on April 16. “Because no matter what you do, even if you go to the side or you pulled into a parking lot, you're still going to smacked and that was happening for several minutes. I don't know how I would describe it, but it was like Armageddon.” Driving became a challenge as the hail prevented him and others from seeing the road clearly as he drove out further to Solon Road and SOM Center Road. Eventually, he made it home and was fortunate to do so, he said. “My only prayer is that no one was hurt, there were no physical injuries,” Kraus said. “The property can be replaced. We can fix the buildings. We can fix vehicles. Hopefully insurance and claims, too, county and state of authorities will fix that.” The CJN contacted several area residents who suffered property damage in the hailstorm. Luke Weber “It caused a crack in my windshield ...” Solon resident Luke Weber was driving past Bainbridge Township when the sky began to darken, a sudden lack of visibility, strong winds and hail falling from the sky. Although Weber, whose family once belonged to Temple Emanu El in Orange, has experience driving in hail, this storm was different than others, producing golf ball-sized chunks. “It caused a crack in my windshield, which initially I was annoyed by,” he told the CJN. “But in the next two minutes or so, the entire windshield was covered with scattered glass and still the hail was falling.” He feared that his windshield would explode with the number of dents to it, but he made it home safe. However, the car will require repairs as “every metal panel throughout the car is peppered with thousands of little holes.” Weber attempted to take his car to Solon Auto Body, owned by his friend, Tom Uhl, and discovered that Uhl was in panic, being concerned about the cars in his lot during the storm and operating the facility after it temporarily lost power. No one in Weber's family was harmed by the storm, so he's thankful for his family safety and, like Kraus, hopes others were not injured. “I hope there weren't any injuries because if there were pedestrians out in the street that would have been really potentially very awful,” he said. “There's a lot of damage to cars. Happily, everybody in my family was safe and I hope everybody else around town is safe as well.” Andrea Young “... hail was bouncing off the glass. ...” Solon resident Andrea Young was in the family room when the hail started to come down paired with powerful wind. Having three windows in the family room and a sliding glass door, Young, a congregant of Park Synagogue in Pepper Pike, become concern and went to her basement. “The intensity of the hail was massive,” she told the CJN. “I mean I just couldn't believe how strong the hail was bouncing off the glass. And my entire deck was covered.” The hail on her deck eventually melted, leaving debris. Her windows and door weren't damaged, but her husband's car which sat in the driveway during the storm sustained some damage. “He had these little pieces of plastic, one of them blew off and it was in the driveway,” Young said. “The other one is still hanging on the car.” Because her husband was in Florida during the storm, she sent him photos and he will take a closer look at it when he returns, she said. “I'm glad we didn't have any windows broken,” Young said. “Whereas I've already heard many people have had windows broken and car windshields broken.” Robert Zelwin “This was golf ball-sized hail” Knowing that the weather was going to take a turn for the worst in the upcoming days, Solon resident Robert Zelwin decided to mow his lawn. As he started to clean up his lawn mower, raindrops began to fall. After a minute or two, he heard the sound of an object hitting something, which turned out to be hail, prompting him to go inside. “You always hear about golf ball-sized hail,” Zelwin, a congregant of B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, told the CJN. “Well, guess what? This was golf ball-sized hail.” About 10 minutes later, his house lost electricity from 6:30 p.m. until about 11:35 p.m. Then Zelwin went outside his house and noticed a man from a roofing company talking to his neighbor about the hail damage. “I didn't event really realize how much damage it done to the roof, the siding,” he said. “I had two chairs on our front porch, (it) put holes in them. I was flabbergasted.” In addition to damage to the siding on his home, Zelwin's gutter also incurred damage. However, he noticed the extent of the storm varied depending on the location in Solon. One of his sons lives 3 miles away and his house was unscathed and he only had internet connection issues. Meanwhile, his other son who lives one-and-a-half miles away had a couple of windows broken. “Nobody got hurt,” Zelwin said. “Everything's replaceable. You can't replace health, but you can replace material things, and that's the way I look at it.” city's efforts to mitigate damage The city met with its emergency management service on April 16 after the city notified residents to complete its storm damage form so they can assess the damage and work toward getting insurance claims. The form can be found at tinyurl.com/ckn3rsv9 “We've had some instances where trees have fallen and caused some damage to home and property, things like that,” Kraus said. “Obviously, the more information we have businesses and properties, it will help us in furtherance of claims that we can make.” After meeting with emergency management service, Kraus said he anticipates the city reaching out to state and federal authorities to discuss claims. He said the city sustained damage to some city cars and buildings from hail and trees falling. Not all city cars were damaged, so those intact will still continue to be used. How do you feel about this article? Choose from the options below. (0 Ratings)
