Las Cruces is recovering from hail storms

LAS CRUCES — The fallout continues from Saturday hail storms that passed through Las Cruces.

The back nine holes at Sonoma Ranch Golf Course remained unplayable Monday after hail the size of golf balls — and possibly larger — pounded the greens. City officials were still assessing damage to public buildings and the city's fleet service.

Las Crucens had either called their insurance agents or were about to Monday to begin filing claims on broken windshields, dented vehicles, damaged roofs or broken skylights.

"(I) just bought a new home," lamented Las Crucen Pamela Sauceda, in a post Monday on the Sun-News' Facebook page. "Eleven skylights broken. Bought a new truck (that) still has paper (license) plates, hail damage all over. A Honda with hail and windshield damage. Filed two claims."

It was just as bad at Laurie A. Smith's house.

"Two broken skylights and some big cracks on the roof paraphet," said Smith's Facebook post. "I filed an insurance claim by phone at 2:45 p.m. (Saturday), right after the weather cleared a bit. Now, we wait for the claims adjuster to show up. (It) could take a while, based upon past experience."

Serena Calvin, talked Monday of the damage hail caused to her roof and skylights.

"It was pretty intense," said Calvin, of the golf ball-sized hail that fell at her east Las Cruces home Saturday. "Where I had the roof repaired several years ago, I could see where the hail ripped that all apart again. I've got splotches on my ceiling where the rain soaked through. The skylights got shattered, and I had to use clear, heavy duty plastic and duct tape to seal it back up until I can get those replaced. It's a mess, a complete, utter mess."

Victor Rodriguez, spokesman for State Farm Insurance, said his company is finalizing details to open a mobile claims center later this week in Las Cruces. He said State Farm insures about one of every five cars and homes in New Mexico.

"We encourage everyone to contact their insurance agent and report damage as soon as possible," Rodriguez said. "Until State Farm can get this mobile claims center open, it would be a good idea to call in advance and make an appointment. What we've learned over the many years of working to help our New Mexico customers recover is for them to keep their appointments and be on time for those. It's important they file a claim and then make, and keep, their appointment."

State Farm customers can file a claim at www.statefarm.com, call their Las Cruces agent, or call 800-732-5246. State Farm officials still had not determined a location for the insurance company's mobile claims center in Las Cruces. But Rodriguez said the mobile claims center will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday, and might be open for additional days, depending on the number of State Farm customers who need to file claims.

Ken Miyagishima, district sales manager for Farmers Insurance, said his company has designated Las Cruces a "catastrophe area" because of Saturday's storms and a group of adjusters have been sent to process claims.

"They're usually flown to the area where they are needed," Miyagishima said. "If they're not already here, they're going to be."

Miyagishima added some of Las Cruces' larger car dealerships, such as Bravo Chevrolet, are classified as centers of dependability, where Farmers Insurance customers can go to expedite repairs to their vehicles.

Some Las Crucens said they hope other insurance companies will respond quickly to damage claims that need to be filed.

"I don't have insurance with State Farm, so I hope the other insurance companies will have ways their customers can file claims, too," Las Crucen Gilbert Trejo said. "My car got pretty dinged up by the hail on Saturday. I've called my insurance agent already, but haven't heard back from him yet. I hope I don't get lost in the shuffle."

Saturday's hail storms also caused significant damage to Sonoma Ranch Golf Course. The greens on holes 9 through 18 were pelted by golf ball and egg-sized hail, and six skylights in the golf club's restaurant were broken. The golf course was closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday, but holes 1 through 9 were repaired Monday, and the golf club's restaurant, the Sunset Grill, also reopened Monday after repairs were made.

"We had ice in our restaurant," said Gabriel Rubio, head golf professional at Sonoma Ranch Golf Course, which has become the Las Cruces Golf Club. "We had golf ball-sized hail and larger.

"The back nine got it worse than the front nine. There are thousands of divots on the greens. We called in the (course) superintendent, and we tried rolling and filling in all of the divots but it hasn't worked. It looks now like the the back side won't open for at least a couple more days."

Daniel Trujillo, groundskeeper at Sonoma Ranch said, "It's like a bad haircut. It will grow back."

Rubio couldn't immediately put a dollar estimate on damages to the golf course. But he anticipated it could get pricey.

"It's going to be a pretty penny," said Rubio, of the cost of repairs to Sonoma Ranch.

Chances remain high, at least through Wednesday, for more rain and hail. There is a 50 percent chance Tuesday for severe thunderstorms in Las Cruces, with an increase to 70 percent Tuesday night.

The forecast also mentions the possibilities of large hail and damaging winds. National Weather Service meteorologists in Santa Teresa aren't ruling out the potential for isolated tornadoes.

"It's not very common for something like that to happen here," said David DuBois, New Mexico state climatologist. "We don't often get a lot of ingredients that can cause tornadoes. But with all of the instability in the atmosphere, I can understand what the National Weather Service is thinking."

Steve Ramirez can be reached at 575-541-5452 or on Twitter @SteveRamirez6.