Tens of thousands of people in northwest Indiana were still without power Wednesday, more than a week after deadly storm Trees were flattened and power lines destroyed throughout the area.
Northern Indiana Public Service said crews were working nonstop to repair the outages, but by late afternoon, 75,000 customers were still without power, mostly in Lake County near the Illinois border.
That includes more than 20,000 customers in the city of Gary, where residents once again lined up at community centers for hot meals and a place to charge their phones.
The latest news in Gary is not good: Full recovery is not expected until August 25, NIPSCO said.
Melody Birmingham, an executive with NIPSCO’s parent company, said about 300 utility poles and 44 transmission poles in Gary need repair or replacement due to the impact of the storm, which brought winds reaching 99 mph (159 kph).
Birmingham admitted the loss of perishable food and people living without air conditioning for days was a “real burden” after a “historic storm” that initially left 300,000 customers in the dark.
“These are not simple fixes,” Birmingham said at a news conference. “These are systems that are being rebuilt.”
Utility company says low-income residents aren’t being ignored
Jeremy Spurrier, 51, said he is lucky to have a generator at his home in Portage, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But generators are expensive — gas costs about $75 a day — and Spurrier said his family relies on non-perishable food like soup. He drove to Illinois to buy ice to cool his insulin.
“If you run out of ice, hundreds of dollars of insulin are ruined,” he said.
Gary, a majority-Black city, has been particularly hard hit, with some residents expressing frustration at being ignored. Birmingham denies low-income residents are being ignored and blames social media posts.
“Some of our areas may be affluent, but they still have customers. … It’s not about race or any type of division,” said Birmingham, who is black. “It’s really a matter of where the storm hits.”
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged that locals were “frustrated and exhausted” but said more than 600 line maintenance crews were working to restore power to the city.
“I want to reiterate that this is obviously not just a Gary situation. This is a northwest Indiana situation,” Melton said.
No storm damage, but no power
Liz Woods, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the victims since the storm began on Aug. 11 include a 4-year-old boy, three men and three women.
Myra Carden, 74, in Whiting, said her home suffered no storm damage and “not a chair was blown over in the yard.” But she lost power for the second time Wednesday.
Kaden, her son and three dogs were without power for more than two days last week. Then the power went out again on Tuesday.
“I’ve filed outage reports more than once,” she said. “All I get is ‘You’ve filed a report.'” Well, what do you want me to do? …This doesn’t make sense. Of course, I’m not a linesman; I’m a paralegal. “
Kaden uses a generator to keep the refrigerator humming, but only if someone is home to monitor it.
“We had a deep freezer in the garage filled with beef and chicken. I was sure everything was going to be thrown away,” she said.
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