More than a week after violent storms swept through northwest Indiana, utility crews have restored power to hundreds of thousands of customers, but tens of thousands remain in the dark as communities struggle with damage, disrupted services and deaths tied to the weather.
Scope of the outages and human impacts
Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) reported restoring power to 285,000 customers since the storms began Aug. 11, but said roughly 85,000 customers were still without electricity as of Wednesday morning. The hard-hit city of Gary had more than 22,000 people without power.
Residents in Gary have gathered at community centers for hot meals and to charge phones. In nearby Portage, a safety manager at a wastewater plant described the strain on households: his family is running a personal generator that uses about $75 of gasoline a day, their refrigerator food spoiled, and he has driven to Illinois to keep insulin cold.
“If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,”
He said NIPSCO gave an estimated restoration date for his home of Aug. 25. Officials and residents also reported attempts to deter theft of portable generators and people moving in with others who have power.
Official response and disparities
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged residents’ frustration and exhaustion while stressing the scale of the response. He said more than 600 linemen were working in the city and emphasized the outages affect the broader northwest Indiana region.
“NIPSCO has never ceased or stopped working in the city of Gary. … I want to reiterate this is clearly not just a Gary situation. It is a northwest Indiana situation,”
The storms have also been deadly. Local reports link several deaths to the severe weather that began Aug. 11, including a 4-year-old boy, three men and three women.
What residents should know
- If you need a warm meal, charging or shelter, check local community centers — some are operating services for residents without power.
- People dependent on refrigerated medicines should seek cold storage options at community assistance sites or travel to facilities with power when safe to do so.
- Follow official messages from NIPSCO and local emergency management for restoration timelines and safety warnings about downed lines and generator use.
| Metric | Number |
|---|---|
| Customers restored since Aug. 11 | 285,000 |
| Customers still without power | 85,000 |
| Customers without power in Gary | 22,000+ |
Restoration work is ongoing. Utility crews and municipal officials face the twin challenges of clearing storm damage — downed trees and broken lines — and addressing urgent health and safety needs among affected residents. For many households, the outage has moved beyond inconvenience to a public-health issue, particularly for those relying on refrigerated medicine or with limited means to replace spoiled food or fuel generators.
Local officials and utility representatives have urged patience while crews continue around-the-clock repair efforts, but residents say the economic and emotional toll is mounting as the outage stretches into a second week.
News Block will continue reporting on restoration progress and local relief efforts across northwest Indiana.
