75,000 still without power in northwest Indiana, outages may last until Aug 25

Eight days after severe storms battered northwest Indiana, around 75,000 customers of Northern Indiana Public Service Co (NIPSCO) are still without power. The situation is particularly dire in Gary, where over 20,000 customers remain in the dark, with full restoration not anticipated until August 25. NIPSCO has described the event as the largest and most widespread outage in its history.

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These aren’t simple repairs. These are systems that are being rebuilt.

The severe weather, which began on August 11, initially affected approximately 300,000 customers. Repair crews are working around the clock, but the damage is extensive. In Gary alone, about 300 poles and 44 transmission poles require repair or replacement. The storm system was preliminarily confirmed as a derecho, characterized by significant wind damage, with wind speeds reaching up to 159 kmph at Gary/Chicago International Airport. Five tornadoes were also confirmed.

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If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined.

Residents are grappling with the prolonged outage, facing significant burdens such as the cost of running generators, estimated at $75 per day for some, and the difficulty of storing perishable food and essential medications like insulin. Melody Birmingham, executive vice-president at NiSource, NIPSCO's parent company, acknowledged the "real burden" but emphasized that these are not simple repairs, but rather systems being rebuilt. She also rejected concerns that Gary, a majority-Black city, is being overlooked, stating that the restoration efforts are not influenced by race or division but by the sheer scale of the damage and the ongoing rebuilding process.

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This has nothing to do with race or any type of division. It’s really a matter of