Storms Leave Indiana Residents Struggling Without Power

Many residents in Gary, Indiana face challenges due to ongoing power outages. Shatiya Hardin shared her struggles with CBS News, emphasizing the difficulties families face without electricity. “At night, we’re sweating and irritable,” Hardin said, highlighting the impact on children and elderly community members who rely on electricity for devices like oxygen tanks.

The severe weather began on August 11, bringing intense storms to northwest Indiana. These storms resulted in at least seven deaths and displaced close to 1,000 people. Record rainfall led to significant flooding, which affected multiple communities. In Gary, more than half of the residents, many of whom live in poverty according to U.S. Census data, lost power.

Hardin expressed frustration over the continued lack of service. “We don’t have service in this area,” she observed, describing how dark the streets become at night except for passing car headlights. Workers, such as those from True Cut Tree Care of Farmington, Michigan, are busy removing toppled trees, a common sight after the storms.

On Saturday, over 30,100 customers of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), the local electric utility, remained without power. At the peak, 374,500 customers were affected. Indiana Governor Mike Braun has requested a major disaster declaration for 54 counties from FEMA, estimating the resultant damage to potentially exceed $5 billion. Such a declaration would bring additional resources to speed up recovery efforts.

In Gary, many residents depend on local community centers for essentials like hot meals, air conditioning, and mobile phone charging stations. Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit filed against NIPSCO accuses the utility of failing to maintain vegetation near power lines, which allegedly led to the outages. NIPSCO disputes this, claiming they’ve significantly increased spending on vegetation management since 2016.

Gary Mayor Eddie Milton discussed the city’s need to evaluate and improve emergency management responses. “We need to revisit what we should do better,” he said, also calling for greater accountability from utility providers.