Indiana mayor calls it ‘unacceptable’ for thousands to have no power two weeks after storm

Gary mayor says 12 days is ‘too long’ for residents to go without power after storm downed trees on to power lines

The mayor of Gary, Indiana , has said it is “unacceptable” that thousands of residents in the city are still without power nearly two weeks after an 11 August storm known as a derecho brought 90 mph, straight-line winds, downing trees on to power lines.

“We’re at day 12, and 12 days is too long for families to be without power,” Eddie Melton, Gary’s mayor, said in a video address on Sunday , adding that he is continuing to pressure the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (Nipsco) to restore the city’s power before the end of Tuesday.

“Twelve days is too long for parents to worry about their children, and for businesses to lose revenue, and for families to wonder when the relief is finally going to come. Today, I want the people of Gary to know this. I want you to know that I share their frustration.”

On Sunday, there were still more than 14,500 power outages in Gary. That number had been reduced to 10,187 by Monday morning, according to the company.

At the peak of the outages, 374,500 were without power.

Most school students in Gary were able to return to classes on Monday, officials said.

“That’s progress, but Nipsco has so much more work to do,” Melton said. “We’ve pushed them to do more and do it faster.” Gary currently has 700 lineworkers and 300 vegetation crews working to restore power, the mayor added.

Thousands of residents of north-west Indiana have been without electric power since storms swept through the state, leading to food lines, closed businesses, dead phones, no schools, spoiled food, dirty clothes and dry gas pumps.

Nipsco has said Gary may not see full service restored until Tuesday . ComEd, the largest electric company in Illinois, has also sent crews over to help expedite repairs.

Residents have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Nipsco that accuses it of failing to trim trees that brought down the power lines.

“This situation was predictable. It was obvious and it was preventable,” attorney Otto Shragal of the Allen Law Group said.

Nipsco denied the allegations, arguing that it maintains a vegetation management program.

“We strongly disagree with the characterization of NIPSCO’s vegetation management practices,” the company said. “NIPSCO’s vegetation management spend has more than doubled since 2016, demonstrating our commitment and focus on maintaining a safe and reliable electric system.”

Melton’s pressure on Nipsco to restore services comes after Mike Braun, Indiana’s governor, said in an interview with Inside INdiana Business that the company “needs to pick up the pace, because we’ve given them national guard help [and] all of our agencies”.

Braun also said nearly two weeks without power “is a long time in the middle of summer”.

Gary has contracted three organizations to help with the recovery, including Egis Group, an insurance agency, to execute damage assessments; Thompson Consulting Services, a Florida-based company, to oversee debris collection; and AshBritt, a disaster response services company, to execute debris removal.

Melton has asked residents to organize storm debris in separate piles for a smoother collection operation.

Meanwhile, on Monday, food critic and social media personality Keith Lee, Indiana Pacers basketball team star Tyrese Haliburton, the Salvation Army, Ace Hardware and Gary city officials planned to co-host a relief supplies event for locals outside the community’s Roosevelt Pavilion, according to organizers.

Organizers said Lee committed $15,000 in supplies for the event, which Haliburton matched to bring the total contribution to $30,000. The other entities provided additional support.

“Gary has always been a resilient city,” Melton said. “We’ve always overcome challenges before, and we’ll overcome this one as well. The lights are coming back on, neighborhood by neighborhood.

“Resources continue to arrive to our city. Neighbors continue to help neighbors until every family is taken care of. We will not stop pushing, and we will not stop fighting for the people of the city of Gary.”