Tens of thousands of residents in northwest Indiana remained without electricity on Thursday, nine days after a storm on Aug. 11 caused widespread damage to utility infrastructure. While the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) reported restoring power to more than 300,000 customers, approximately 68,000 remained in the dark, primarily in Lake County near the Illinois border. The utility has described the damage as "unprecedented and widespread," involving broken poles and downed wires across its territory.
The prolonged outages followed a deadly storm that struck the region last week, toppling trees and power lines. While neighboring Illinois, served by a different utility, saw faster recovery, NIPSCO officials stated that different service territories present unique challenges. In Indiana, the delay in restoration has forced schools to close and led to the widespread loss of refrigerated food and household supplies.
In Gary, Indiana, the school district of 4,300 students has been closed since Aug. 13 and is scheduled to remain shut through at least Friday. Portage Township Schools delayed its academic year start until Aug. 25 due to downed trees and property damage. Meanwhile, about 250 miles away in Columbus, Ohio, emergency crews conducted rescues Thursday after more than 3 inches of rain fell in 12 hours, causing flash floods that trapped motorists and swept a 12-year-old off a bridge.
The disruption to the school year affects thousands of students and their families. The Gary school district's 4,300 students have missed over a week of classes, while Portage Township students face a nearly two-week delay in starting the year. For parents who work, these closures necessitate finding emergency childcare or missing work, which Courtney Page-Tan, a professor at Indiana University Indianapolis, noted can impact the financial stability of families living paycheck to paycheck. Additionally, the use of generators during long outages increases the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if ventilation is poor.
NIPSCO stated that full power restoration is not expected in some areas, including Gary, until Tuesday. This timeline means some residents will have spent a total of two weeks without electricity. The event highlights regional differences in utility resilience, as Illinois neighbors recovered sooner. In Ohio, the flash flooding on Thursday added further strain to emergency services that were already cleaning up from weekend storms. Residents in affected Indiana counties will continue to rely on community hubs and volunteers for hot meals, water, and hygiene products until the Tuesday restoration deadline.