Northwest Indiana residents demand accountability as NIPSCO expects power to be restored by Tuesday night

Two weeks after devastating storms hit Northwest Indiana, more than 1,300 homes and businesses were still without power on Tuesday afternoon.

NIPSCO has estimated restoration should be completed by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, but has stressed that not every single home and business will necessarily have power by then.

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said Tuesday morning that he would not consider the job finished until every customer's power was back on.

Some individual outages could take longer because of localized damage or repairs needed on private property.

Residents and elected officials have continued to demand answers about why it has taken so long to restore power, and even some Hoosiers who have their power back have said it's not over for them, and want assurances it won't happen again.

"When you're sitting in the dark like that, it starts to impact your mental health," said Gary resident Nkosazana Boyd.

Like many of her neighbors, Boyd struggled without power for 13 days before her lights came back on; struggling to find a charge for her cell phone, or even find unspoiled food during that time.

"You just watch your life just crumble, and you're just fighting to survive," she said.

She and Indiana state Rep. Vernon Smith (D-Gary) said, even though they have their power back, NIPSCO needs to be held accountable for how long outages have lasted.

"They've failed here, and the truth hurts," Smith said.

Smith is concerned NIPSCO might not have done enough to maintain its power lines and clear trees — like the thousands now piling up on Gary's streets and sidewalks — before the storms on Aug. 11 knocked out power to more than 370,000 customers.

He also said he's frustrated by scenes of outside power restoration crews sitting idle last week without assignments.

"I'm sure that they did not have a productive plan. I'm convinced, and they will have to prove to me otherwise," Smith said.

NIPSCO said the Aug. 11 storms, along with severe weather in the days following, impacted approximately 374,500 customers.

As of 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 1,300 people were still without power, most of them in Gary, Highland, Portage, and Lake Station.

NIPSCO, which has repeatedly denied our request for an on camera interview over the last few days, says "no outage is being overlooked, and no customer will be left behind."

"If you don't learn from your past experience, you have that disease that I call stuck on stupid – S.O.S.," Smith said.

Melton said he joined U.S. Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) in speaking with President Trump to request assistance. 

"We are hoping that President Trump will move the federal assistance through to help the city of Gary, Northwest Indiana, and all of the state of Indiana because we know Central Indiana has also been impacted by severe flooding," Melton said.

Melton said President Trump did not realize how severely the city had been impacted. The mayor is now hoping that his conversation with President Trump leads to more federal help, and is also hoping that the city can state can better prepare for powerful storms.

"It's an unprecedented storm. We've never seen a 99-mile-an-hour wind come through Gary or Northwest Indiana. So no one can be prepared for that. But now that we know that 99-mile-an-hour winds is possible, we need to be prepared in the future," said Melton. "So that's where we're really demanding and instructing that we need to have a more resilient infrastructure for storms to come. More maintenance and restoration around the critical infrastructure is sorely needed at this point in time."

Ben Inskeep, program director for the utility watchdog Citizens Action Coalition, said NIPSCO's response to the outages is troubling, because its customers pay the highest electric rates in the state, yet – according to state data – have some of the worst reliability.

"Utilities never take this long to restore service after a major storm. So, it's quite unprecedented and concerning to see the lack of initiative by NIPSCO," he said.

Are NIPSCO customers getting their money's worth?

"I think that's a, yeah, big question, where I think a lot of NIPSCO customers would say no," Inskeep said.

NIPSCO, which has repeatedly denied requests for an on-camera interview over the last few days, said "no outage is being overlooked, and no customer will be left behind." 

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has called for a full investigation into NIPSCO's handling of the outages. Inskeep said that process could take anywhere from 6 months to a year, and a variety of stakeholders will be able to weigh in on that process.

Melton said the needs in Gary will continue even after the lights come back on. He also asked Gov. Braun to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and ensure there is enough funding to help people repair their homes.  

Earlier this month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, announced that federal disaster assistance is now available for the state of Indiana following severe storms. 

Individual assistance is now available through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security as part of the State Disaster Relief Fund. Folks impacted by this month's storms may qualify for emergency grants of up to $5,000.