ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- ComEd crews are making progress restoring power to Stateline homes and businesses. But still 29,000 remain in the dark.

High winds brought down trees and knocked down power lines at about 7:00 a.m. Monday. About 50,000 customers were initially effected. Extra crews have been called in from surrounding areas and will be working overtime to get everyone restored.

Teams are being spread throughout Northern Illinois, all the way to Chicago, where about a Half-million remain light-less. ComEd spokespeople say this will be a several day affair.

ROCKFORD (WIFR) - Another intense storm rips through the Stateline leaving major damage to hundreds of businesses, homes, and vehicles.

The hurricane force winds leveled countless trees and power lines leaving tens of thousands in the dark..

Thousand homes have been without power since about 7:00 this morning. More than 700 thousand Illinois customers lost electricity today making the storm one of the worst for ComEd in state history

ComEd Spokesman Paul Calligan says crews are working on the situation although not everyone will have the lights turned back on today.

Loss of light isn't the worst problem facing those without power: no electricity means no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year.

There’s no one problem causing the power outages that have darkened much of the Stateline today--the majority of electricity loss comes from down lines like this one where the combination of tree limbs and wind snapped supporting cables.

Raeann Dean said, "I’m sure it's going to get a lot worse as the day goes."

Dean is one of thousands in the Stateline facing the heat and humidity without access to a-c... while little drake and cru can stay cool with their pool, Raeann may be forced to take her family out of town until the power is restored.

Dean said, “so far right now it's not too bad, but if it gets too hot we're going to go to grandma's house and enjoy the air conditioning versus sitting here."

For the thousands without power it means difficult time dealing with today's heat and humidity; for some lack of electricity is only a nuisance. They have much bigger problems to deal with left behind by the storm.

Businesses like R.J. Daniels lost entire buildings. Their storage barn was blown over and the high winds ripped apart an equipment shed--sending pieces of sheet metal flying into and over the shop.

R.J. Daniels Manager Bill West, "I thought the building was coming down. I thought we were probably history. It was pretty scary."

Much of the metal landed across the street in Belvidere cemetery where 14 trees came down and countless grave decorations were toppled. Clearing the debris will take time but cemetery staff says it's not the hardest part of storm management.

Caretaker Sam Larson said, "Trying to keep people away for safety reasons which is hard because the first thing they want to do is come to their loved ones' grave."

It should take about three weeks to restore the cemetery to its former condition, but removing some of the fallen trees and restoring monuments like this one will take some time and some heavy equipment.

Wall Collapse

The storm's damage extends throughout the Stateline, reaching into Loves Park where a building's wall completely collapsed.

It happened at this ware-house on charmer drive. that’s near forest hills road.. witnesses say intense winds destroyed the building's wall throwing debris around the area and..pulling power lines down with it.

Rainbow Daycare

A similar situation on forest hills road near the WalMart on riverside.

The rainbow learning center daycare lost a portion of its roof.

Kids were inside of the building at the time of the storm.

Luckily, everybody was ok the center closed for the day but is expected to re-open tomorrow.

Tree vs. Car

A lot of drivers are contacting their insurance companies this evening.

Our cameras spotted at least four cars damaged by high winds.

One Belvidere woman was taken to the hospital after a tree fell onto her vehicle.

Taking out power lines and trapping her inside until emergency crews arrived.

Belvidere firefighters say the victim was conscious and breathing after the extrication, but they're not sure what her current condition is.

Neighbors say it all happened so fast.

Dean said, "I looked outside the trees were whipping you could barely see across to the cemetery and I heard screaming but I didn't hear where it was coming from when the fire department showed up we found that the lady was trapped in the car."

A Rockford man also lost his car this morning on spring creek road. A tree is still covering his vehicle. Anas Sulieman says he didn't know of the damage until he walked outside.

Anas Suleiman said, "I was pretty shocked of course you know, I just see a tree on my car. My brother woke me up to tell me, your car is totaled and so I had to see it for myself and here it is.”

It’s not just homeowners seeing the destruction, just when farmers hope for rain. The high winds destroyed various crops throughout the area.

The Winnebago county farm bureau says nearly all of this corn on Safford Road is ruined.

Only some of it is expected to come back up.

It’s been a tough summer for farmers this year considering conditions have been dry.

800,000 Without Power at Height of Illinois Storm

CHICAGO (AP) -- A spokeswoman for ComEd says Monday's storm left the utility with its highest number of outages in a decade.

ComEd spokeswoman Alicia Zatkowski says that at the peak of the outages more than 800,000 customers were without power.

That number has been climbing. Some people lost power after they left for work and are reporting outages as they return home and discover the problem.

The utility has nearly 500 crews working to restore service to the more than 500,000 Chicago-area customers still waiting.

The fast-moving storm downed trees, flattened cornfields and slowed travel throughout northern Illinois. Airlines report delays at both O'Hare and Midway airports and more than 200 flight cancellations at O'Hare.

Seventy-five mph winds were measured at Midway.