Thursday night's hailstorms left damage throughout the Bismarck area that reminded residents of the damage left by the infamous storm of 2001.

North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman said many people in Bismarck and Mandan had worse damage Thursday night than in the storm of 2001.

"The hail was larger this time and the wind was stronger," Poolman said. "Strong enough to blow even heavy golf-ball-sized hail." But the damage wasn't as widespread as that in 2001.

Windows were broken and siding damaged. There were campers tipped over in Mandan and mobile home parks with significant damage.

Poolman said he has contacted major insurers and they are working on putting together catastrophe teams to come to the area and do adjustments. He said he is encouraging the insurers to take care of the people with the most damage first. In the meantime, Poolman advises people to contact their insurance companies and to patch broken windows.

"We don't want potential storms in the next few days to do further damage," he said.

Poolman is predicting thousands of insurance claims will be filed over the next few days.

"It's going to take some time to get all of these claims adjusted, just like it did in 2001," Poolman said. "People just have to be patient."

Jim Fors, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, said the core of the storm moved southwest to northeast. It moved from south Mandan to central Bismarck and then up to the northeast part of Bismarck, which had the most hail.

"The weather service has a couple of guys out there surveying the damage," Fors said. "Twin City Estates in Mandan probably saw the most damage."

The sudden hailstorm snuck up on many people enjoying the evening outdoors.

Richard Fleckenstein, owner of Superslide Inc., which has a Ferris wheel in Sertoma Park, was surprised by the hail. His company was having a picnic at the park when the storm hit.

It took about four minutes to stop the Ferris wheel and get the passengers safely off.

"It was hard to see, and the hail dented some of the gears," Fleckenstein said. "I know four minutes seems like a long time in that kind of situation."

He said he spoke with the last people to get off the Ferris wheel, and to his knowledge, no one was injured.

"We feel bad about what happened and would never jeopardize someone's safety, but the storm hit so suddenly," Fleckenstein said.