Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Thousands in northwest Indiana still without power nearly two weeks after storm A round of storms impacted the region on Aug. 11 National Thousands in northwest Indiana still without power nearly two weeks after storm August 23, 202612:55 PM ET By
Chandelis Duster
Workers from True Cut Tree Care of Farmington, Michigan remove a tree from the front of a home after it was toppled during a recent storm on Aug. 20, 2026 in Gary, Indiana. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
More than 20,000 people are still without power in northwest Indiana after severe storms rolled through the area nearly two weeks ago.
A bout of severe weather, including wind gusts up to 100 mph, heavily affected the region on Aug. 11.
Homes in Gary, Portage, Lake Station and Munster still lacked electricity as of Sunday morning, according to NIPSCO, the local power company. In Gary, Mayor Eddie Melton said at least 17,000 citizens remained without power Saturday. NIPSCO officials have estimated electricity will be restored to Gary by the end of day on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
National 'Survival mode': Indiana residents endure a ninth day without power Frustration among residents is high, as many seek aid at shelters and receive food from distribution centers. The city's schools remain closed.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has activated the National Guard to assist with restoration efforts, while President Trump has approved an emergency declaration for the state. This allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist with recovery efforts from the storm.
Gov. Braun on Saturday also demanded NIPSCO hurry to restore power. "Bring in more crews. Put every available resource into the field. Get creative. Get the job done. Hoosiers have waited long enough," Braun wrote on social media.
The start of the prolonged outage coincided with an announcement by the local power company's parent, NiSource Inc., that it would be paying out around $140 million in dividends to its shareholders.
Melody Birmingham, executive vice president of NIPSCO's parent company NiSource and president of NiSource's utilities division, said during a press conference last week that the storm's damage represented one of "the most extensive and complex" situations their recovery crews had ever encountered.
"When I say complex, these aren't simple repairs. These are systems that are being rebuilt," Birmingham said. "These are lines that ordinarily take us—and systems that ordinarily take weeks or months, that we are trying to accomplish in days and or weeks."
The company's slow response has also been criticized by civil rights leaders and advocacy groups who have raised questions about systemic inequity. Gary's population is nearly 80% Black.
Civil rights leader Bernice King, daughter of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., said last week that the power outage in Gary is "part of a pattern" and that residents there "deserve more than survival."
"Black communities have too often been expected to endure conditions that would be treated as intolerable somewhere else," King wrote on social media. "We are expected to survive the neglect, absorb the loss, help ourselves, and wait for urgency to arrive."
The ACLU advocacy group's branch in Indiana stressed that inequality, and urgency, too. "It's important that, when a disaster happens, the relief reaches every community quickly and equitably." the group said on social media Saturday.
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