ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) -
The cleanup continues a day after Albuquerque was nailed by the biggest hail storm it's seen in years.
There are early estimates of more than 1,000 damaged cars, and several homeowners were picking up the pieces Tuesday from damage to their properties.
"I got some awnings that are just torn up to shreds," Nob Hill resident Nick Chalamitas said while pointing to the sheet metal awnings thwarted by ping pong ball-sized hail. "It was one of the worst hail storms I've ever seen in the city."
A day after the Monday night storm, leaves could be seen spread across neighborhood streets, parks and houses, making the area look like fall suddenly arrived.
"Just all the branches and trees that got shredded from the night before so a lot of raking, a lot of bagging," Albuquerque resident Alex Willson said, as he bagged up piles of leaves in his front yard.
"It could've been worse," Chalamitas said. "Glad I have a garage."
Others weren't so lucky. A lot of cars were left with dozens of dents, including UNM campus police's fleet.
"A number of our cars, approximately seven cars, got damaged with hail," UNMPD Lt. Trace Peck said.
The extent of hail damage spread to businesses like the Kabob House off Lead and Yale, which sustained damage to lights, tarps and the stick roof.
"The hail started to come through on them and the roof was also very much falling down onto their food," Cerridwen Stucky with the Kabob House said. "It looks like it really did just come right through and we probably will have to replace quite a bit of this."
A general contractor and roofing company owner, AJ Orona, said he received an influx of calls from people about hail damage to their homes.
"Skylights have been broken through, people you know had water coming into the insides of houses," he said.
Car repair shops were working overtime on Tuesday. Car Crafters off Montano said it had gotten at least 70 calls just in the morning about hail damage.