Strong thunderstorms hammered the Wichita Falls area late Friday night into the early morning hours of Saturday, leaving hail damage in their wake.
The National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma detected a severe storm capable of producing hail up to 2 inches in diameter, that moved directly over the city proper.
Hail accumulation outside one of the greenhouses at Smith’s Gardentown on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Hail damage reports began flooding including one from Smith’s Gardentown at 4940 Seymour Highway.
“It was pretty shocking walking in and seeing the roof just all in pieces down on the floor,” Michael Fiore, chief operating officer of family-owned Smith’s Gardentown.
Hail damage to the roof of the bedding plant area at Smith’s Gardentown on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
The plant nursery has four acres of greenhouses that consist of different types of roofing: glass, polycarbonate and polyethylene. While the glass roofing areas weren’t damaged, the same could not be said for the other greenhouses.
The tropical greenhouse roof sustained minor hail damage with a few punched holes but the bedding plant greenhouse roof suffered a total loss. Trees and shrubs were stripped of their bark and leaves and left with broken limbs.
Michael Fiore, chief operating officer at Smith’s Gardentown, and his staff are picking up the pieces after hail hammered the Wichita Falls garden center in weekend storms. In this Aug. 4, 2023, Times Record News file photo, Fiore talks about moss for a social media video while Felicia Garza films.
Fiore said the insurance claim process has already begun, and Smith’s must log all hours of cleanup, photos of damage and inventory loss. Fiore predicted the cost to be tens of thousands of dollars in tree and shrub damage.
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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Two-inch hail plagues Smith’s Gardentown inventory