Gary Residents Face Nearly Two Weeks Without Power After Severe Storm

Residents in Gary, Indiana, are still waiting for relief nearly two weeks after a severe storm left thousands without electricity.

The storm moved through the area on August 11, causing what NIPSCO described as unprecedented and catastrophic damage. More than 60% of the utility's customers were initially left without power.

As crews continue working around the clock, some Gary residents say they are frustrated by how long restoration is taking.

Esther Clayborne has been without electricity since the storm hit.

“We've been surviving off the gas station and the generator,” Clayborne said.

During a church service, she said she was reminded that it's OK not to be OK.

“And I'm not OK,” she said.

The American Red Cross has been helping residents with bottled water, rakes, tarps and other supplies as the community continues its cleanup efforts.

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton says residents are increasingly frustrated as the outages continue.

“It's still too late going on two weeks, folks are frustrated,” Melton said.

Melton said Gary continues to have the highest number of outages in NIPSCO's service area, leaving many residents feeling forgotten.

NIPSCO says about 1,000 crews are working solely on restoring power in Gary. At the peak, approximately 38,000 people in the city were without electricity. That number has fallen to just over 10,000.

The mayor is hopeful power will be fully restored within the next day or two.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has also criticized the utility's response, saying NIPSCO has enough resources to restore power but has continued to fail Hoosiers.

NIPSCO has pushed back, saying no outage is being overlooked and no customer will be left behind.