Storms bring relief, rain, power outages

According to Commonwealth Edison, about 22,000 customers were still without power around 6 p.m. after the swift, morning storm. Most of those residents are in Chicago, but the rest are spread throughout the suburbs. ComEd said crews are out working to restore electricity while residents are working to clean up the mess.

For some residents, it's the second major storm cleanup they've had in as many weeks. Nathan Chapel is helping his father and neighbors clear trees in Prairie Grove.

"He called me this morning and said the electricity was out for the second time this year and that he needed help clearing tree and we're helping neighbors and did a couple of trees there this morning and helping these neighbors over here," Chapel said.

Matt Shaver had $12,000 in damage during last week's storm. This week, a second tree fell and, once again, his power went out. his property was hit again.

"Bad luck we have to clean up another tree, but good luck it didn't hit the house," Shaver said.

In Crystal Lake, a large oak tree toppled into a home and minivan on Seybrook Lane, damaging the roof. The family made it out OK.

"Woke up at 4:30 to a loud bang, went running, checking on the kids and they were OK. Then I saw a tree hit the house," said Jennifer Oetgen.

The storms brought some heavy rains, especially in the northwest suburbs, where some roads were hard to navigate and parking lots looked more little lakes.

"Some areas in McHenry and Lake county actually saw over 3 inches of rain and quite a bit of rain out there. And downtown not so much," said ABC7 Meteorologist Jerry Taft.

Temps drop, excessive heat advisory ends

That rain helped cool the area, with temperatures reaching into the high 80s, canceling the excessive heat advisory for Cook County. However, some of the collar counties remain under a heat warning, including Kankakee, Iroquois, and Livingston counties.

And, that heat is expected to return this weekend. Saturday could see a high of 91-degrees.

Definition: Heat Warning, Heat Watch:
According to the National Weather Service
• Excessive Heat Warning: Issued within 12 hours of the onset of the following criteria: heat index of at least 105°F for more than 3 hours per day for 2 consecutive days, or heat index more than 115°F for any period of time.
• Excessive Heat Watch: Issued by the National Weather Service when heat indices in excess of 105ºF (41ºC) during the day combined with nighttime low temperatures of 80ºF (27ºC) or higher are forecast to occur for two consecutive days.