EVANSTON, Ill. (WLS) – Cleanup efforts are underway in the Chicago area Wednesday morning after storms downed trees and knocked out power.

Emergency crews spent much of the morning in Evanston clearing debris and fallen trees.

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

Tree felling crews were working hard to remove several large, old trees that had fallen during the storm on the night of Tuesday into Sunday.

“There was water everywhere,” said Dave Baker, who lives nearby. “Yeah, it looked like a river.”

Baker lives across from Northwestern University’s John Evans Center on Sheridan Road. He was on his way home when the storm hit.

“You couldn’t get down Sheridan,” Baker said. “I had to keep taking shortcuts west through the side streets because Sheridan Road was covered not just with pieces of trees, but with whole trees, and they were hundred-year-old oaks.”

He has lived in Evanston for 50 years and said he has never experienced anything like this.

“I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this, and there are parts of this city that will never look the same again,” Baker said.

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

In Deerfield, too, emergency crews worked late into the night to clear streets and yards of debris and fallen trees.

In a homeowner’s front yard, an old tree broke in two and fell directly onto a family member’s car, shattering the windshield.

“It was pretty scary, especially because I knew it was a huge tree,” said Paulina Barrios. “It was even bigger than the other one and so thick. I was scared of the power line, but thank God everyone was OK.”

Emergency crews have managed to clear the sidewalks and streets, so there are no major problems in Evanston. There are no reports of injuries.

As of 11:00 a.m., 14,909 ComEd customers were still without power.