By Jeff Small
Belleville, IL (KSDK) - As it turns out, cars and shingles weren't the only things that took a beating during Saturday's hail storm.
Strawberry patches in our area are dealing with damage, as they head into their peak season.
The Strawberry Festival is this weekend, just days after the storm did some damage across the entire farm.
The good news is that it wasn't enough to destroy thousands of strawberries.
At the Eckert's farm in Belleville, there are about five acres of strawberries and 75,000 strawberry plants.
The owners say this year's crop was hit pretty hard when the storm came through on Saturday. The hail was the worst problem which destroyed many of the ripe strawberries.
Farmers have spent the last few days harvesting berries, which are very vulnerable to hail.
They say what is left over at the strawberry pick-your-own patch is considered the cream of the crop, and the damage certainly could have been a lot worse.
KSDK