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Gary — a predominantly Black city where Black residents make up 84.8% of the population, according to the city’s official website — was among the communities hardest hit by storms.
Approximately 30,000 customers across the region are without power, according to ABC 7 Chicago, and The Associated Press reported at least seven people across Indiana were killed during the storms.
Reginald Branch, a Gary resident, told Fox 32 Chicago that the storms were the worst he has experienced in 34 years. He said he has repeatedly contacted Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) about downed power lines near his home but has not received an update.
The outage has also kept Branch from working, leaving him without pay for the days he has missed.
For him, the lack of clear information has been one of the biggest concerns as residents wait for power to be restored.
“My message [to NIPSCO] would be to be more clear,” Branch told Fox 32. “You know, tell us what’s going on so we can be at ease.”
Cynthia White, who has lived in Gary for about 40 years, said the prolonged outage forced her to throw away most of the food in her refrigerator and deep freezer. She told Fox 32 Chicago that other than a pack of chicken wings she was able to grill, “everything else was destroyed.”
Still, White said she believes utility crews are doing what they can to restore power after the storms.
“We need to just calm down and just wait for the service to come up,” she said.
NIPSCO said crews have been working around the clock to restore power. The utility expects 90% of affected customers to have service restored by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday (August 18) and all customers by 11:59 p.m. Friday (August 21).
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