Across parts of northwest Indiana, thousands have been without power for more than 10 days — and counting — leaving many in desperate need of food and water and others staying up well into the night in fear of crime while schools and businesses remain closed.
From water main breaks to transformer explosions, signs of hope were quickly squashed as issues continued to plague communities already struggling to recover from a devastating derecho that moved through earlier this month.
In Gary, Indiana, residents have reported damage and debris still littering the streets. Some are cleaning clothes in sinks, many are under a boil advisory for water, streetlights remain out and in certain areas, residents have reported sewage backing up.
“It’s literally like Gotham City out here. It really is,” one resident said in a social media video documenting her days in the dark.
“It’s hard,” Gary resident Natasha Clay told NBC Chicago. “[My grandmother] told me the other day that this situation got her feeling down, and she’s not feeling like herself, so I try to uplift her, tell her it’s going to be okay, even though I don’t know if it’s going to be okay.”
Clay has been making food and water runs for not just her grandmother, but her neighbors too, as many struggle to find generators that can power necessary appliances like fridges or afford hotels that are booking up quickly.
Long days have turned into long nights, as Clay said she and her grandmother stay up past 2 a.m. watching for suspicious activity that could go unseen without streetlights.
“I stay up with her,” Clay said. “You know, my car just got broken into, so now I’m a little traumatized. I’m shaken up.”
Videos show what it’s like to drive in the darkness as streetlights remain out.
“It’s like a horror movie out here,” another woman said on social media, likening it to a zombie apocalypse.
Influencers are working to bring awareness and aid to the community as it continues to struggle. And it’s not just Gary.
An outage map shows a stark contrast between what’s happening in northwest Indiana compared to just over the border in Illinois, which was also hit hard by the same storm system.
In Illinois, outages had been nearly cleared just days after the catastrophic derecho and tornadoes.
But in Indiana, more than 40,000 were still without power as of Friday morning, down from the more than 400,000 reported after the Aug. 11 storms. The largest outages centered in Lake County, Indiana, where Gary is located.
The region is largely powered by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, also known as NIPSCO.
Crews have been working since the storms to not only restore power, but deal with some of the many issues that have popped up since.
On Thursday afternoon, a fire occurred on an electrical pole in Schererville, knocking down power lines as transformers blew, leaving more than 9,000 customers without power in Schererville, St. John, Dyer, Highland and multiple other communities.
Some residents who had just gotten their power back on were suddenly plunged into the dark again.
“After throwing away all the food goods and stuff, and now here we are again,” one resident said.
In addition to residents and businesses losing power, Lake Central Schools were closed Friday, just one day after reopening.
“Kids were upbeat, the weather was great, it was the perfect day to return to school, then three-quarters through the day this happened,” David Hein, town manager in Dyer, said. “Frustration is at its absolute boiling point.”
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has called on NIPSCO to step up its efforts to turn the lights back on.
“Hopefully that will be done by the weekend, (and) we’ve asked them to pick up the pace,” he said.
NIPSCO officials say they aren’t shying away from the criticism.
“My team heard loud and clear that better communication is needed and we agree,” said NISOURCE Executive VP Melody Birmingham.
Birmingham confirmed residents in cities like Gary, Munster and Highland will likely have to wait until Tuesday – two weeks after the storm hit – for power to be restored.
“There are vast difference that are system related, the impact that came through, the trees, the infrastructure, the access, that’s the difference,” Birmingham said.
Birmingham says more than 80% of the 400,000 affected customers have had power restored. She said crews are assessing more than 2,000 miles of power lines, many blocked by uprooted trees. Michigan City Democratic Indiana State Rep. Randy Novak says lawmakers have been pressuring NIPSCO for answers.
“Were gonna have after actions and everything else to figure out what went wrong, what, if anything, went right,” Nocak said. “Obviously we’d have liked to have seen this happen a lot faster.”
NIPSCO has previously come under fire for getting the green light to raise rates $257 million, resulting in higher average utility bills.
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