Sunflower seeds at a farm in McCook were about to be harvested.

Now, sunflower farmers are instead checking the crop to how badly they were damaged after the area was hit by rain and hail on Thursday, May 8, 2025.

“It was more like the wrath of God than Noah's Ark,” sunflower farmer Christopher Respondek said while describing the storm.

The marble-sized hail that struck the area knocked leaves off of sunflowers, left dents in the stalks, and holes in the back of the flowers. Hail flattened even some of the sunflowers.

Respondek grows the plants to harvest their seeds and turn them into oil for selling. He said the damage can impact the quality and amount of oil the seeds can produce. 

“It shortened the life of a lot of the sunflowers, so you might not get a full bouquet of seeds inside of the head,” Respondek said.

Sunflowers are all over McCook and contribute to many important industries, Respondek said.

“They could turn that into cooking oil to fuel for your car,” Respondek said.

Respondek said he won't know how badly the storm damaged his field, or how much his crop insurance will cover, for several more weeks. 

Watch the video above for the full story.