Tens of Thousands in Indiana Still Without Power After Deadly Storms
Tens of thousands of people in northwest Indiana remained without power Thursday, more than a week after a historic derecho leveled trees and knocked down power lines across the region. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) reported approximately 63,000 customers still lacked electricity, with the hardest-hit areas concentrated in Lake County near the Illinois border, according to AP News.
More than 20,000 customers in Gary remained in the dark, where residents have lined up at community centers for hot meals and a place to charge phones. Full restoration in Gary is not expected until August 25, NIPSCO said, as roughly 300 poles and 44 power transmission poles need to be repaired or replaced in the city alone.
A Historic Storm
The storm system that struck on August 11 was classified as a derecho by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center — a prolonged straight-line wind event that unleashes heavy rainfall and travels far distances, with damage sometimes comparable to tornadoes or hurricanes. The derecho produced widespread 70 to locally 100+ mph straight-line winds across northeastern Illinois into northwestern Indiana, with a peak gust of 99 mph recorded at Gary/Chicago International Airport.
The National Weather Service confirmed eight tornadoes in the Chicago area from the August 11-12 event, ranging from EF-0 to EF-2 intensity, as AP News reported. More than 600,000 customers lost electricity in Illinois and Indiana combined during the initial storm, while at least 250,000 were without power in Ohio.
Seven people died in Indiana from the storms that began August 11 — a 4-year-old boy, three men, and three women, according to AP News. The storms also brought historic flooding, with the White River cresting at more than 24 feet in Anderson and Noblesville, surpassing records set in 1913. Indianapolis experienced its worst flooding in more than 30 years.
Restoration Efforts and Frustration
NIPSCO has described the outage as the worst in the company’s history, and utility officials acknowledge the scale of the challenge. “These aren’t simple repairs. These are systems that are being rebuilt,” said Melody Birmingham, an executive at NIPSCO’s parent company NiSource, at a news conference. “These are lines that ordinarily take us, and systems that ordinarily take weeks or months that we are trying to accomplish in days or weeks.”
Vince Parisi, NIPSCO president and COO, urged patience while promising the company would not leave any customer behind. “We’re still working hard here in Gary and Hammond and a few other places to get that,” Parisi said. “We’re hoping by the end of the week we’ll have everybody back on. We will get to everyone… We’re not going to leave any customer behind.”
But residents in communities like Griffith, Munster, and Highland have grown increasingly frustrated. At a Griffith Town Council meeting, residents voiced frustration over what they described as slow progress and poor communication from the utility, as ABC7 Chicago reported.
“I haven’t had power in seven days,” said Bobby Heinze, a Griffith resident who is diabetic and relies on refrigeration for his medicine. “I’m diabetic and I have my medicine in the refrigerator.”
Griffith Town Council President Rick Ryfa was more blunt: “I think today is the breaking point when we’re not seeing a whole lot of NIPSCO trucks in town. Unfortunately, if I were in NIPSCO upper-management, high-level, somebody’s going to be fired.”
Human Toll of Extended Outages
The prolonged outages have taken a heavy toll on residents, many of whom have lost hundreds of dollars in spoiled food and face mounting costs for generators and fuel. Jeremy Spurrier, 51, of Portage said his generator goes through about $75 of gas a day, and his family is relying on nonperishable food. “If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,” he said.
In Gary, a majority-Black city that has been especially hard hit, some residents voiced concerns that they were being overlooked. Birmingham denied that low-income residents were being ignored, saying, “We have areas that are probably affluent where we still have customers out as well… This has nothing to do with race or any type of division. It’s really a matter of where the storm hit.”
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged that locals were “frustrated and exhausted” but said more than 600 linemen were working to restore power in the city. “I want to reiterate this is clearly not just a Gary situation. It is a northwest Indiana situation,” Melton said.
Relief and Recovery
Relief efforts have ramped up across the region, with food giveaways organized in Gary, East Chicago, and Portage, as ABC7 Chicago reported. Former NBA player Glenn Robinson donated $100,000 to help those affected. President Donald Trump approved federal disaster assistance for Indiana on August 15, and Gov. Mike Braun launched a disaster relief fund providing $5,000 to individuals needing to buy basics such as clothing and food.
NIPSCO said restoration efforts are being pushed back from Wednesday to next Tuesday, with some customers in Munster and Highland potentially remaining without power until August 25. The company said it has brought in assistance from out of state, including utility crews from as far away as Jacksonville, Florida.
What’s Next
As restoration efforts continue, the key question is whether NIPSCO can meet its extended timeline of August 25 for full restoration in the hardest-hit areas. The company has promised to reach every customer, but with hundreds of downed poles and extensive infrastructure damage, the work ahead remains substantial. For the tens of thousands still without power, each day without electricity brings new challenges — from spoiled food and medical concerns to the simple discomfort of living without air conditioning in late summer heat.
Officials have urged residents to remain patient while crews work around the clock, but with the outage now stretching into its second week, patience is wearing thin across northwest Indiana.