Overview
- The Aug. 11 storms and multiple tornadoes ripped through south Chicago suburbs and Northwest Indiana, toppling trees, damaging homes and causing at least seven deaths.
- NIPSCO said 90% of its customers will have power by Tuesday night and all customers by Friday night as mutual-aid crews work to repair what the company called one of its most destructive outages.
- As of Monday more than 100,000 Indiana customers remain without electricity, with outages concentrated in Gary and nearby towns where stoplights are dark and streets are blocked by debris.
- Local governments, NIPSCO and nonprofits are distributing food, water and cleanup supplies while residents report spoiled food, lost income, spotty communication and safety fears about downed live lines and reports of crews being targeted.
- Federal disaster aid and extra utility crews should speed recovery but earlier security incidents that paused work and the risk of more rain could complicate the final days of restoration.