Tens of thousands of customers in Will County remain without power Thursday morning following Wednesday’s storms.

ComEd reports that more than 34,000 customers were without power as of 6 a.m. Thursday, the majority of those living in Joliet, Crest Hill, Lockport, New Lenox and Plainfield.

ComEd sent out an alert to customers early Thursday morning that said it expects 80 percent of outages across its service area in northern Illinois to be restored by Saturday morning.

But that could be complicated with another round of severe weather expected Thursday, bringing storms with high winds and the possibility of hail and tornadoes.

The utility said it uses the following criteria in prioritizing outages:

• Downed live wires or potentially life-threatening situations (If you see a downed wire, leave the area immediately and then call 1-800-334-7661).
• High-voltage transmission lines and equipment, to restore service to the largest number of affected customers.
• Critical public health and safety facilities, like hospitals, police and fire stations, and water treatment plants.
• Major distribution lines and high-density housing.
• Any remaining smaller neighborhoods and individual homes that have not been restored by prior repair activities.