$100,000 Gone In Just 10 Minutes

WELD COUNTY, CO -- When it comes to getting paid, most of us can rely on a certain number each week, but Joe Miller's number depends on several things very much out of his control. Weather is one of them.

"This is just horrible," Miller said as he looked at 200 acres of his farm devastated by Monday night's hail. "There are not enough words for it. You just can't... there is no word for it."

Miller says two storms Monday night damaged his home, his cars and most importantly, his crops. Some, like the watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes and okra were destroyed.

"This would be stuff we're selling right now. That's the worst part about it, probably $100,000-$150,000 just gone in 10 minutes," Miller said.

Two-inch hail shredded cabbage and poked holes in everything else.

"It looks like you walked up to each one and shot it with a gun," Miller said.

Last November, Miller had so much produce he had to give it away. 9NEWS caught up with the crowds of people fighting the traffic they created in rural Weld County to get free food.

"This is our livelihood," Miller said. "Last fall we fed 40,000 people in one day. I was thinking we wouldn't have enough to feed our own family this year."

Wayne Rieger, county executive director for the Farm Service Agency with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, oversees Weld and Larimer Counties.

He told 9NEWS he surveyed 150 square miles in Weld and Larimer Counties where the storms hit. The hail affected about 400 farms. The most damage was in Weld County, according to Rieger.

"I saw 100 percent damage to crops, I saw a lot of different crops damaged," he said. "Some [farmers] will recover, some won't, but the majority of them that have real heavy hail damage will not."

9NEWS spoke with Marty Reeves, the county executive director for the Farm Service Agency with the USDA who oversees Adams and Arapahoe County. He says those areas didn't see a lot of damage from the hail.

Rieger says he has seen a lot on his 20 plus years on the job. He said Monday's storms were not the worst he's ever seen.

"We've been very fortunate this year that pretty much my whole area and a lot of Colorado has gotten more than average precipitation. We're actually almost 4 inches above normal for this time of year, which means that the crops have been doing really well. Naturally the farmers would like to be able to harvest those great crops, but sometimes this happens and some can't," Rieger said.

Rieger says he can't put a dollar figure on the damage yet. He will submit his damage assessment to Governor Bill Ritter's office, which will send it to the USDA offices in Washington D.C. The federal government may issue a disaster declaration for the area, which could make money available for farmers like Miller to help get them through a tough time.

Miller is going to do everything in his control to survive this.

"We have potatoes, beats and carrots, we still have sweet corn across the road that's salvageable," Miller said. "A few green beans, we're just gonna save what we have. You have to stay optimistic. It's really hard."

He's hoping his annual fall festival, starting Labor Day, will help him support his family.