Chicago weather: Strong storms topple trees, knock out power for thousands

EVANSTON, ill. (WLS) -- The Chicago area is cleaning up Wednesday morning after storms tore trees apart and knocked out power.

Crews spent much of the morning in Evanston cleaning up debris and downed trees.

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The overnight storms took down several large trees along Sheridan Road, including in front of a Northwestern University building.

Tree removal crews were hard at work to clear several large, old trees that came down during Tuesday night's storm.

"There was water right here all the way across," Dave Baker, who lives nearby, said. "Yeah it looked like a river."

Baker lives across the street from Northwestern's John Evans Center along Sheridan Road. He was making his way home when the storm hit.

"You couldn't get down Sheridan," Baker said. "I had to keep cutting through the west on side streets because Sheridan Road was covered in not just tree sections but whole trees and those are hundred year-old old oak trees."

He's lived in Evanston for 50 years and said he's never seen anything like this.

"I mean, I've never seen anything like this, and there are sections of this town that will never look the same," Baker said.

Evanston was just one of the northern suburbs impacted by the gusty winds and bursts of heavy rain overnight.

Over in Deerfield, crews working late into the night to clear debris and downed trees covering roads and yards there, as well.

An old tree snapped in half in one homeowner's front yard and fell right onto her family member's car, smashing the windshield.

"It was pretty scary especially because I knew it was a huge tree," Paulina Barrios said. " It was bigger than that one actually and it was so fat. I know I was I was scared about the powerline, but thank goodness everybody was OK."

Crews have managed to clear the sidewalks and roads so there are no major issues getting around Evanston. There are no reports of any injuries.

As of 11 a.m., 14,909 ComEd customers remain without power.