Fort Lupton man redoing garden after hail storm destroys vegetables
Brian Martella said he couldn't believe what he was seeing as the storm rolled over his house on Wednesday, stunned that the weather went from sunny to the most rain he's seen in that area in only a matter of moments.
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In two years of living in Fort Lupton, he said he's never seen a storm like this.
'It was pretty much relentless,' said Martella.
What started as a sunny day turned to chaos in an instant. It started with rain, Martella's rain gauge filling to two inches in what he said was only about 30 minutes.
'I mean, it was an absolute downpour. It was, it was pretty bad,' he said.
Water flooded into his garage in a video Martella captured, mud and debris still left behind the next day. But rain wasn't the only issue.
'We looked out the window and it was just pea-sized to marble-sized hail,' said Martella.
He has several ducks and chickens, and they all headed for cover under chairs in the front yard.
'The ducks were running for their lives,' said Martella. 'I mean, a big hailstone could probably take one of them out pretty easily.'
Those hailstones also fell into his garden out front.
'Our radishes, our carrots, our lettuce, our onions,' said Martella. 'Garlic and then tomatoes and peppers over there.'
All of them, destroyed by the hail. To make matters worse, he planned to sell those vegetables at a roadside stand for the first time this year.
Despite the loss, Martella plans to grow again, but that extra bit of farm life may have to wait another year.
'I don't know if it's gonna grow back in the time we want it to,' said Martella.
Despite the damage to the garden, Martella is thankful that his home and the tools in his garage that he uses for a welding business were unharmed.
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