More than a week after violent storms swept through northwest Indiana, the city of Gary remains caught in a prolonged darkness that reveals something older and harder than downed power lines. Seven people have died, a thousand have been displaced, and tens of thousands still wait for electricity to return — a wait made heavier by poverty, vulnerability, and a growing sense that some communities are asked to endure more than their share. The storms have passed, but the questions they leave behind — about utility accountability, emergency preparedness, and who bears the cost of systemic neglect
Thousands remain without power days after deadly Indiana storms kill 7
At least 7 people killed, approximately 1,000 displaced, with vulnerable populations including elderly requiring oxygen and families without electricity for cooling or safety.
It's not OK for us to continually be in survival mode
Mark
Why does Gary seem to be suffering more than other parts of the region?
Mimi
It's partly geography—the storms hit northwest Indiana hardest—but it's also about who lives there. A third of Gary's population is in poverty. When the power goes out everywhere, wealthy neighborhoods can afford generators, hotels, evacuation. Gary residents can't. They're stuck.
Mark
The utility company says it's spent more on vegetation management. Why would that claim not matter to people?
Mimi
Because the lawsuit alleges the spending wasn't enough or wasn't done right. And because people are suffering now, in real time. A company saying "we've doubled our budget since 2016" doesn't cool your house tonight or power your mother's oxygen machine.
Mark
What's the actual legal question here?
Mimi
Whether NIPSCO was negligent—whether a reasonable utility company would have trimmed those trees and branches before a major storm season. If the lawsuit wins, it could force the company to pay damages and change how it operates.
Mark
Is there a chance the governor's disaster declaration doesn't get approved?
Mimi
It's possible, but unlikely. Seven deaths, a thousand displaced, $5 billion in losses—that meets the threshold. The real question is whether the money flows fast enough to help people who need it this week, not next month.
Mark
What does accountability actually look like here?
Mimi
It could mean rate increases tied to infrastructure spending, mandatory vegetation trimming schedules, faster restoration timelines, or penalties for failures. But the mayor's using the word "demand," which suggests he knows the utility hasn't been operating under real pressure to change.
The Pulse
- Over 30,000 customers remain without power more than a week after the storms, with Gary — where a third of residents live below the poverty line — bearing the heaviest burden.
- Elderly residents dependent on oxygen machines and families without cooling face life-threatening conditions, forcing many to rely on community centers for meals, air conditioning, and phone charging.
- A class-action lawsuit now targets utility NIPSCO, alleging years of inadequate vegetation management along power lines directly caused the scale and duration of the outages.
- NIPSCO disputes the claims, citing doubled spending on vegetation management since 2016, even as Governor Braun seeks a $5 billion federal disaster declaration to accelerate regional recovery.
- Gary's mayor is calling for greater utility accountability, signaling that legal, regulatory, and political pressure may all converge in the aftermath of this crisis.
More than a week after violent storms swept through northwest Indiana, the city of Gary remains caught in a prolonged darkness that reveals something older and harder than downed power lines. Seven people have died, a thousand have been displaced, and tens of thousands still wait for electricity to return — a wait made heavier by poverty, vulnerability, and a growing sense that some communities are asked to endure more than their share. The storms have passed, but the questions they leave behind — about utility accountability, emergency preparedness, and who bears the cost of systemic neglect — will outlast the restoration crews.
When storms tore through northwest Indiana on August 11, they killed seven people and displaced roughly a thousand more. In Gary, the damage has proven especially stubborn — more than a week later, over 30,000 customers of the regional utility NIPSCO still have no electricity, in a city where more than half the population lost power at the storm's peak.
For residents like Shatiya Hardin, the outage is not an inconvenience but a sustained emergency. She has spent sweltering summer nights without air conditioning, caring for children and elderly relatives who depend on powered oxygen machines to breathe. The streets around her go dark after sunset. Community centers have become the region's informal safety net, offering hot meals, cooling, and phone charging to those with nowhere else to turn. 'It's not OK for us to continually be in survival mode,' Hardin said.
The storms also brought record flooding across the region, prompting Governor Mike Braun to request an expedited federal disaster declaration covering 54 counties, with estimated losses potentially exceeding $5 billion. But federal aid, however welcome, offers little to those still waiting for the lights to come back on.
Frustration has now found a legal form. A class-action lawsuit filed against NIPSCO alleges that the utility's failure to trim vegetation from its power lines made the outages both more widespread and slower to resolve. NIPSCO has disputed the characterization, noting that its vegetation management spending has more than doubled since 2016. Gary's mayor, Eddie Milton, has called for greater accountability from the utility while also pledging a review of the city's own emergency management procedures — acknowledging that when the next storm comes, the most vulnerable communities cannot afford to be this exposed again.
The storms that tore through northwest Indiana starting August 11 left seven people dead and roughly a thousand more displaced from their homes. Days later, the damage persists in ways both visible and invisible. In Gary, where the power grid took the heaviest blow, thousands of residents are still waiting for electricity to return—a wait that has stretched into a week, turning basic survival into a daily negotiation.
Shatiya Hardin sits in her Gary home without air conditioning in the middle of summer, sweating through the nights while trying to keep her children and elderly relatives safe. Some of those relatives depend on oxygen machines that require electricity to function. "It's been absolutely horrible," she told CBS News, describing nights when the streets around her go completely dark except for the occasional sweep of car headlights. The storms knocked out power to 374,500 customers at their peak. By Saturday, more than a week later, over 30,000 customers of Northern Indiana Public Service Company—the region's main electrical utility—still had no power.
Gary is a city where roughly one in three residents lives below the poverty line, according to census data. The power outages have hit hardest here, affecting more than half the city's population. Without electricity, families have nowhere to go during the day except the community centers that have opened their doors to offer hot meals, air conditioning, and charging stations for phones. For many, these centers have become lifelines. "It's not OK for us to continually be in survival mode," Hardin said, pointing to the broader vulnerability of her community. "We don't have service in this area at all whatsoever."
The storms also brought record rainfall that flooded several communities across the region. Governor Mike Braun requested an expedited major disaster declaration from FEMA for 54 counties, estimating that total losses could exceed $5 billion. If approved, the declaration would unlock federal resources to speed recovery efforts. But for residents like Hardin, the promise of future aid offers little comfort in the present moment.
Frustration over the outages has now turned into legal action. A class-action lawsuit was filed this week against NIPSCO, alleging that the utility company failed to adequately trim vegetation from its power lines before the storms hit. The lawsuit contends that downed trees and overgrown vegetation were the primary reason so many customers lost power and why restoration has taken so long. NIPSCO has pushed back against the accusation, stating in a response to CBS News that its spending on vegetation management has more than doubled since 2016. "We strongly disagree with the characterization of NIPSCO's vegetation management practices," the company said.
Gary's mayor, Eddie Milton, acknowledged the need for change on both fronts. He told CBS News that the city plans to review its own emergency management procedures, but he was more pointed about the utility company's responsibilities. "What I'm going to encourage and demand is that we start having more accountability," Milton said. The question now is whether that accountability will come through the courts, through regulatory pressure, or through the slow process of rebuilding trust in institutions that are supposed to protect residents when disaster strikes.
Notable Quotes
At night we're sweating, we're irritable, we have children to look out for, elderly people who need electricity for oxygen tanks.— Shatiya Hardin, Gary resident
What I'm going to encourage and demand is that we start having more accountability.— Gary Mayor Eddie Milton
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