North-west Indiana residents still without power on 11th day after storms
Weeks after severe storms battered Indiana, tens of thousands remain without electricity, facing spoiled food and hardship, while a class-action lawsuit accuses utility Nipsco of failing to maintain trees near power lines.
Thousands of households in north-west Indiana faced their 11th day without electricity on Saturday, following storms that struck the state on 11 August, downing trees and power lines across the region. The prolonged outage has caused food lines, shuttered businesses, dead phone batteries, closed schools, spoiled groceries and other daily hardships.
Nipsco, the region's main utility provider, reported that around 33,100 customers remained without power as of Saturday, with residents in Gary told service might not return until Tuesday — nearly two weeks after the storms began. The company said it has restored electricity to more than 341,000 of roughly 374,500 customers who initially lost service, though it warned some outages could still temporarily recur.
Anger and legal action
Many residents in Gary expressed frustration, saying their community has been neglected in the recovery effort. A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against Nipsco, alleging the company failed to adequately trim trees, contributing to the widespread line damage. Nipsco has rejected the claims, stating its spending on vegetation management has more than doubled since 2016, and announced it is suspending service disconnections for customers struggling to pay bills.
In Gary, where roughly a third of residents live in poverty, conditions have been especially difficult. Fallen trees still line some streets, and residents described charging phones in their cars and sleeping in vehicles to escape the heat.
Deaths and federal assistance
The storms, which also swept through Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, brought winds exceeding 80mph, with gusts of up to 99mph recorded in Gary. At least three confirmed tornadoes and flooding contributed to several deaths, including a four-year-old child killed when a tree fell on a home.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun has formally requested that FEMA expedite a major disaster declaration covering 54 counties. The federal government has already granted an emergency declaration for affected areas, and a state relief fund is providing emergency grants of up to $5,000 to residents.
