A softball-size hailstone doesn’t fall from the sky quietly. On April 28, chunks of ice measuring up to 4.75 inches in diameter hammered the St. Louis metropolitan area, killing an emu at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, injuring a rhea at the same facility, smashing windows on hundreds of vehicles, knocking out power to thousands of homes, and forcing flight cancellations at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. The National Weather Service logged the event in its Storm Events Database, the federal government’s authoritative record for severe weather, confirming hailstones that rank among the largest recorded in the region’s recent history.
An emu killed, a rhea injured
The storm’s most striking casualty was an emu struck and killed by hail at the Dickerson Park Zoo. A rhea at the same facility was also injured, according to an Associated Press report that cited named officials, including a National Weather Service meteorologist. “It sounded like someone was throwing bowling balls on the roof,” one Springfield resident told the AP, describing the moments the storm arrived. Both species are large, flightless birds that stand several feet tall, and their outdoor enclosures offered little protection against ice falling at terminal velocity.
No publicly available veterinary report has detailed the rhea’s condition or prognosis, and it remains unclear whether other animals at the facility were harmed or whether enclosures sustained structural damage that could leave additional species exposed. The zoo had not released a detailed incident summary as of early May 2026. Animal welfare advocates and accrediting organizations typically review such events to assess whether emergency shelter protocols were adequate.
Hundreds of vehicles damaged, thousands without power
Across the metro area, the hail left a trail of shattered windshields, dented hoods, and cracked siding. The AP reported hundreds of vehicles damaged, though no insurer or municipal authority has released a consolidated dollar estimate for repairs. Comprehensive auto insurance policies generally cover hail damage, but owners without that coverage face out-of-pocket costs that can run into thousands of dollars per vehicle.
Power outages spread across the region as the storm knocked down lines and damaged equipment. The precise number of affected households has not been confirmed in the federal storm record, and utility restoration timelines have not yet appeared in public after-action reports. Residents should verify outage figures through their local utility’s official channels rather than relying on unverified social media posts.
At Lambert St. Louis International Airport, flights were canceled during and after the storm. The number of affected flights, the duration of the disruption, and whether the Federal Aviation Administration issued a formal ground stop have not been specified in available reporting. Travelers seeking refunds or rebooking should consult their airline’s severe-weather policy, which varies by carrier.
Forecasters saw it coming
Hours before the worst hail reached the St. Louis area, the National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning describing the approaching system as a “destructive storm” carrying “large hail.” That language is reserved for the most dangerous thunderstorm scenarios and is designed to trigger immediate protective action. The City of Monett, Missouri, located roughly 250 miles southwest of St. Louis, separately reposted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning on its municipal Alert Center. While the Monett warning and the St. Louis metro hail event were part of the same broad storm system that swept across Missouri on April 28, they involved different storm cells affecting different parts of the state at different times.
The advance warning raises a difficult question: whether downstream institutions, including the zoo, airports, and municipal utilities, acted on those alerts quickly enough. “We had about 20 minutes of lead time before the hail started,” a National Weather Service meteorologist told the AP, underscoring the narrow window for protective action. Emergency protocols for outdoor animal facilities typically call for moving vulnerable species into sheltered areas when severe weather is imminent, but whether that happened here, and how much lead time staff had, remains unknown. Any future accountability review will likely center on the gap between when the warning was issued and when protective measures were taken.
Putting 4.75-inch hail in perspective
Hailstones are measured by their maximum diameter, and the NWS Storm Events Database records the largest confirmed stone for each event. At 4.75 inches, the April 28 hail, recorded in St. Louis County, falls just short of the five-inch threshold and dwarfs the quarter-size (one-inch) hail that most drivers and homeowners consider a nuisance. For comparison, a standard softball measures about 3.8 inches across, meaning these stones were actually larger than a softball and closer to a grapefruit.
The specific measurement method for this event, whether a spotter preserved a stone and measured it with calipers or estimated its size visually, has not been disclosed in the public record. NWS offices typically rely on trained spotter reports, ground surveys, and radar-based algorithms. Regardless of the method, hail in the four-to-five-inch range carries enough kinetic energy to punch through car roofs, crack wooden beams, and, as this storm demonstrated, kill animals that have no way to take cover.
What residents dealing with damage should do now
Anyone with property damage from the April 28 storm should start by documenting everything. Photograph hail damage to vehicles, roofs, siding, and windows from multiple angles, and note the date and approximate time the damage occurred. If a hailstone was preserved in a freezer next to a ruler, that image can support an insurance claim. Policyholders can reference the NWS storm record for their county to confirm that large hail was officially observed in their area.
Homeowners should review their policies carefully. Roof and siding coverage can vary based on the age of the structure, the materials used, and prior condition. Vehicle owners with comprehensive coverage are generally protected, but deductibles apply. Getting multiple repair estimates and keeping receipts for emergency fixes, such as tarps or temporary glass replacement, can help ensure reimbursement.
For community members concerned about the zoo animals, the most reliable information will come from formal statements by the Dickerson Park Zoo and any accrediting bodies, not from secondhand social media accounts. Those statements, when they arrive, are likely to address enclosure design, emergency protocols, and what changes the zoo plans to make before the next severe storm season. Across the Midwest, where spring hail events appear to be growing more destructive, the lessons from April 28 will shape how cities, airports, and animal facilities decide to prepare.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
