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Storms Saturday night into Sunday cause more damage, possible lightning strike sparks house fire

Storms continued overnight Saturday into Sunday after an earlier destructive round, bringing heavy rain and lightning across Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. 

One home caught fire after a reported lightning strike. 

CBS News Meteorologist Kylee Miller reported there were at least 10,000 lightning strikes overnight into Sunday.

The storms brought multiple reports of damaged homes, flooded basements and roads, and power outages.

More than 215,000 customers lost power in the storm. By late Sunday, more than 80% of the service had been restored.

Crystal Lake, DeKalb, Joliet, Mount Prospect, Rockford, and Skokie were among the communities hit hardest by power outages, according to ComEd.

ComEd earlier said it focused on getting the most critical power restored first.

"We are focusing first on critical facilities like fire and police, water, wastewater, nursing homes, hospitals, schools — especially some of the school districts are going to be starting tomorrow — so that's been our focus in terms of our restoration process," ComEd chief executive officer Gil Quiniones said Sunday.

By 9:38 p.m., 90% of affected customers had seen their power restored, ComEd said.

Meanwhile, damage to trees and buildings was widespread, as was flooding.

At 131st Street and St. Lawrence Avenue near the south end of the city of Chicago, the storm took down a large tree and knocked it onto not one, but two cars.

In Aurora, a massive tree came down on a house overnight. The City of Aurora dispatched all its street maintenance crews to clear downed trees and any other storm debris.

More than 16,000 customers lost power in Aurora alone, with thousands still without lights or air conditioning as late as Sunday afternoon.

In Oswego, 3 to 4 feet of standing water were left in the Fox Chase subdivision. At Center Street, before Interstate 80 in Joliet, a car was left stranded due to the flooding.

Drivers were reminded not to drive through standing water, to turn around and take alternative routes to avoid being stranded.   

One resident in Romeoville told CBS News Chicago that the storms caused a tree to fall on their home and flooded their basement. They also mentioned that they just bought the home only a month ago.

In Downers Grove, flames were seen shooting from the second floor of a home early Sunday morning near Douglas Road and 41st Street. Fire crews were able to extinguish the flames.

Reports said the fire was caused by lightning. Fire officials have not confirmed that detail or whether anyone was home at the time or hurt.

Most of the storms diminished by late morning, giving way to hazy sunshine by the afternoon.

But while conditions were dry in the immediate Chicago area Sunday night, such was not the case everywhere in the CBS Chicago viewing area. A Flash Flood Warning was issued for west central LaSalle County until 10 p.m., with a storm system dropping 1 to 3 inches of rainfall that was poised to cause runoff that could result in flash flooding.

Peru, LaSalle, Oglesby, North Utica, and Cedar Point were expected to be affected.

Overnight Sunday into Monday, conditions will be mostly cloudy and warm. But heat and humidity build Monday with gusty storm chances.

House catches fire after possible lightning strike in Downers Grove 00:23
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