Nearly a week after a historic storm ripped through Northwest Indiana with hurricane-force winds, more than 100,000 NIPSCO customers remained without power Monday morning as communities continued grappling with widespread damage and disruptions.
As NIPSCO crews worked through the weekend to repair the battered electrical system after the Aug. 11 storm, federal assistance was also on the way.
President Donald Trump on Saturday approved an emergency declaration for Indiana, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate federal disaster relief efforts and provide assistance to protect lives, property, public health, and safety.
The declaration followed days of widespread destruction across the state.
In Northwest Indiana, a derecho, a storm that lacks the circular motion of a tornado but can pack winds just as strong, uprooted trees, tore off roofs, and leveled power lines. A peak wind gust of 99 mph was recorded at Gary/Chicago International Airport as the storm knocked out power across much of the region.
Southern portions of the state were battered by torrential flooding, with some areas reporting 10 inches of rain during the storm’s short duration.
Gov. Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency shortly after the storm, mobilizing state and local resources and deploying the Indiana National Guard, including personnel sent to Gary, Munster, and Hobart.
“I will do everything in my power to protect Hoosier lives and livelihoods as we respond to this historic severe weather,” Braun said.
Despite the additional assistance and days of around-the-clock restoration work, widespread outages persisted Monday.
As of 7 a.m., about 107,000 NIPSCO customers remained without power, while the utility had restored service to about 231,000 customers since severe weather began battering the region.
Gary has remained among the hardest-hit communities. Roughly 36,000 customers in the city lost power in the initial aftermath of the storm, and roughly 30,000 remained without electricity Monday.
The storm’s effects also stretched into the week ahead. Gary Community School Corp. canceled school Monday and Tuesday as the city continued recovering, while officials canceled the Gary Air Show scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
The massive restoration effort faced another complication over the weekend when gunfire struck a NIPSCO vehicle carrying workers surveying storm damage in Gary.
No injuries were reported, but NIPSCO temporarily paused some restoration activities involving Gary crews while the utility coordinated with law enforcement and took additional security measures. Restoration work resumed Saturday.
“Let me be clear: this type of violence is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the City of Gary,” Mayor Eddie Melton said. “These crews are here for one reason — to help our residents and restore electricity to families who have already endured days without power.”
Gary police are investigating whether the NIPSCO workers were intentionally targeted. Police Chief Derrick Cannon noted that the employees were traveling in a small SUV that did not resemble a typical utility vehicle.
“The vehicle that they were driving was not similar to what a utility truck would be,” Cannon said. “It was a small SUV like a passenger car, so we’re trying to understand the dynamics of the case.”
For status updates on outages in the area, visit NIPSCO’s website.
This story will be updated.
