Recovery efforts, power restoration underway in Kankakee, Illinois, following intense storms

Crews are working around the clock to restore power to homes in and around Kankakee.

Following Tuesday night's storms, daylight revealed a better look at the damage.

Recovery work continues in Kankakee, a day after severe storms tore through rooftops and brought down trees. The strength of the winds was highlighted by a pushed-over semi on its side in a Walmart parking lot. 

ComEd crews are working throughout Kankakee in an effort to restore power. However, the most severe damage was shown through small buildings that were severely, if not completely, destroyed.

Among them is a home and motel along Route 52. It sits on a stretch that saw some of the most significant damage in the area from Tuesday night's storms.

"Yeah, I got a call around 7, 7:30 last night in Indiana time, she says, "Today, I lost everything," said Dilip Patel.

Patel arrived in Kankakee from Indiana on Wednesday morning and said his younger sister and her mother-in-law were in the building at the time of the storm. No one was hurt.

The sister and her husband have owned the home and motel since 1995, where they raised their family. Now, both structures are severely damaged. Patel said that the storm's damage was hard to digest. 

The family spent the day trying to salvage possessions from the home as they began to process the impact.

"Just speechless, put it that way. Just trying to get whatever we can get out," Patel said.

Just north, a building for a landscaping company sits as a pile of rubble. The family in the home next door said they sheltered in the basement as they saw the storms approach – their home was spared.

As for Patel, he said he's grateful his family is safe.

"Can't tell you how much damage or whatever, you know, but one thing, family are safe," he said.

Meanwhile, the city of Kankakee said that ComEd crews are hard at work to restore power, with some customers already having their service restored.