On Monday, State Farm sent a team of claim specialists to the Danville area, six of whom are drone pilots and will be using the technology to help in their assessments of roof damage, said Heather Paul, a public affairs specialist. “We can get the drone up and see detailed damage, take high-resolution photographs of that damage and download it to a tablet to show the customer and contract,” she said, adding there will still be times when a drone can’t be flown due to trees or other reasons, and an adjuster will have to go up on the roof. Some area farmers, who are already frustrated with wet weather that’s delayed planting, are dealing with hail damage to their crops. Kelli Lyons, of Midwest Agri Credit, said she knows of two in the area whose soybeans had actually emerged. “Unfortunately, they got hit with hail pretty hard,” she said, adding one is her brother, Doug Kirk. Kirk said he and his business partner, Greg Emmert, had half of their crop in, including about 260 acres of beans in a field between Catlin and Georgetown. “From our perspective, this is a crop that had absolutely 100 percent yield potential,” he said, adding the beans were planted in late April and two inches tall. Kirk, Emmert and co-worker Dan Todd took shelter in a large machine shed, “holding our hands over our ears” because the sound of hail pelting the metal building was deafening. When they emerged, they saw it had damaged 30 to 35 percent of the field. “To see that was an absolute disappointment,” said Kirk, who said it’s too late in the season to replant. Kirk said the hail also damaged the roofs on all of their buildings and several vehicles and high winds took down a couple of trees. Danville damage report Just a block south of Mike’s Grill, Toyota of Danville also suffered widespread damage, said General Manager Bob Oltean. He said hail damaged aluminum panels and siding on the building and likely the roof. And “every single vehicle that was on the lot was damaged,” he said, adding there were about 300 new and “previously enjoyed” vehicles, and all require some type of body work, whether it’s to the body or windows. The vehicles are still for sale “in any condition the customer would like to purchase them with safety items like headlights and tail lights repaired,” Oltean said, adding they can get them at a discount and make the repairs themselves or let the dealership make them. Since Saturday, he added, his business has gotten 80 deposits from customers wanting to buy some of the vehicles. Oltean said he will work with Toyota to replenish the inventory. “We also appreciate the outreach from fellow dealerships in the area, offering us undamaged units,” he said. Like Sherer, Oltean — who was driving home from Chicago when the storm hit — said he’s just grateful that his roughly 48 staffers, as well as customers, who took cover in a vault or inner hallway, weren’t injured in the storm. Source - https://www.the-independent-news.com