Severe storms almost moved through parts of the area in the afternoon and evening, leaving damage, and more storms are expected this weekend.
High temperatures were forecast for the area in the mid 90s, with a heat index between 100-108 degrees. A Heat Advisory was in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning and Watch was issued for parts of the Chicago are, but they have also since expired.
Massive trees were among the casualties of high winds, which also blew roof shingles from across the street into a yard in Lisle. Many said they were surprised by the storm's intensity.
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Around mid-afternoon, the skies grew ominous before unleashing a deluge across much of the area.
Sheets of rain pounded the west and southwest suburbs, and then came the wind.
Connie Wigsmoen of Lisle spent the evening cleaning up after the storm uprooted an 80-year-old,100-foot tall tree in her front yard.
"That's all I could say is I just started crying. It was sad," Wigsmoen said. "My heart was broke... and I was like there goes sitting under the tree, reading a book, and that's what we did."
Wigsmoen's neighbors on Riedy Road were also cleaning up, with some homes sustaining roof damage.
In neighboring Naperville there was a similar scene, branches littering the Glens subdivision, where the Habegger family's driveway was blocked.
"I kind of wonder if it was, you know, just some intense weather event that pushed things down," Naperville resident Ken Habegger said.
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The strong storms may have also toppled part of the wall of a building in Lyons.
Back in Lisle, Wigsmoen is grateful the downed tree, which survived eight decades of storms, didn't fall on her house.
"Sometimes God don't send storms to destroy us, just to clear our path, so for some reason this tree's not going to be here anymore, but that's how I have to think about it," Wigsmoen said.
There was a ground stop at Midway Airport until Thursday evening, the FAA said. There were departure delays of about 30 minutes.
A ground stop for O'Hare Airport has also been lifted, and there were departure delays of about an hour.
As of about 5 p.m., at least 49,451 ComEd customers in the Chicago area were without power due to the Thursday afternoon storms. About 1,110 NISPCO customer were affected in Northwest Indiana
Chicago power outages during extreme heat
As the temperature climbed once again, people were enjoying some much needed AC after going without it Wednesday night into Thursday.
The sweet sounds of working AC units silently hummed on Drummond Street, near LeClaire Avenue in the city's Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Power was back after residents went without it for hours overnight, as temperatures hovered at uncomfortable levels during the heat advisory.
Crews restore AC as Chicago residents deal with extreme heat
"Oh no, not now. It was way hot. No way to turn on a fan," said Joann Maldonado, who lost power.
Joann Maldonado spoke with ABC7 after power was restored and described how she felt inside her home.
"Very stuffy to the point I walked out the back door, opened the back door to see how it was outside and it was pretty much the same," she said.
"I said, 'it's not us. Take a look. It's the whole neighborhood,'" Robert Flores said.
Flores said he ended up sleeping on the couch overnight, trying to get some sleep in the heat before leaving on a big trip to Alaska Friday.
"I was worried that it would go too long; I didn't want to be all exhausted and not get a good night's sleep," Flores said.
ComEd crews could be seen diligently working through the early morning hours, working to get power restored as quickly as possible.
"We done a lot of work to prepare our crews in order to be responsive to the hot summer weather," ComEd Vice President of Operations Nichole Owens said.
Owens says there's staffing around the clock to quickly respond to any outages.
"We have drilled this," Owens said. "We have trained our employees how to respond to outages especially given these conditions to make sure customers are safe and also to make sure our crews are safe."
According to the ComEd power outage map, was substantial progress from earlier Thursday morning, when more than 800 customers in Cook County were without power.
The Chicago Office-Emergency Management is working to keep people out and about safe in the heat with cooling centers across the city. Cooling centers open at 9 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday and close at 5 p.m. both days, except for the South Kedzie Avenue location, which is open until 8 p.m.
People can also find relief from the heat in city libraries, police stations and park district buildings.
The best way to avoid heat-related illness is to limit your time outdoors, stay out of the sun and drink lots of water and fluids to remain hydrated. People should also check on relatives and neighbors, especially if they are elderly.
For those who can't stay inside, or whose home is not sufficiently cooled, there areresources around Chicago to help.