Hundreds of Gary Residents Are Back in the Dark After Weeks Without Power

Gary residents thought the worst was finally behind them. After some families spent more than two weeks without electricity following the devastating Aug. 11 storms, power had largely been restored across the city. Then, just days later, some residents found themselves back in the dark.

As of Thursday (Sept. 3) night, more than 1,800 customers of NIPSCO were without power across Northwest Indiana, including more than 1,300 in Gary, according to CBS News Chicago. The outage impacted roughly 2,300 customers at its peak, and crews were working to restore service. The cause of the latest outage was not immediately clear.

In a statement shared with WGN 9, NIPSCO said they responded rapidly to restore power. “NIPSCO personnel promptly arrived on site and repairs are underway to restore service as safely and quickly as possible,” the statement read. “We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding as crews work to restore electric service.”

The latest outage comes after a brutal August for Gary, where 99-mph winds on Aug. 11 knocked out power to more than 370,000 NIPSCO customers across Northwest Indiana. Some Gary residents waited 15 or 16 days for electricity to return. By Aug. 27, NIPSCO said power had been fully restored, but cleanup and recovery were still underway.

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For Gary residents who had only recently gotten their electricity back, the development felt less like a new outage and more like a continuation of the same crisis.

Aja Hall, a Gary resident who has been documenting the outages and their impact on her family, said her power was restored after more than two weeks. Days later, she said it went out again.

“We’re back in the dark,” Hall said in a video on Instagram on Thursday. “I have PTSD, and I’m tired.”

Hall said she had recently used a $300 voucher provided to residents affected by the previous outage to purchase groceries, including two packs of chicken. With the electricity out again, she feared she would lose the food.

“All the little orange juices and groceries and s**t that I have, it’s all going in the trash,” she said.

The prolonged outage also sparked growing demands for accountability. Residents have questioned whether enough had been done to maintain power lines and clear trees before the storm.

The Root previously reported that Gary Mayor Eddie Melton and Gov. Mike Braun have demanded an investigation into NIPSCO’s handling of the initial blackouts. A class-action lawsuit was also filed against NIPSCO over vegetation management and storm preparation, according to CBS News.

For residents who endured weeks without basic electricity, the return of the blackout has renewed questions about whether the region’s power infrastructure — and the response to outages — is prepared for the next storm.

The blackouts have also sparked concerns about the summer heat, especially as the extreme heat conditions persist across the country.

For residents like Hall, the latest outage has meant preparing for the possibility that the power could shut off again. She also showed the emergency supplies her family had gathered after the first outage, including candles, batteries, flashlights, a radio and a power bank.

“I guess we’re more prepared than we were before,” Hall said. But preparation has not made the situation easier. “This is exhausting,” she added. “I’m a different level of tired.”