Gary, Indiana, residents who spent more than two weeks without electricity following last month’s severe storms are facing another outage, leaving some families worried about losing food and money all over again.
More than 1,800 Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) customers were without power as of 10 p.m. Thursday (September 3), including more than 1,300 in Gary, according to CBS News Chicago.
The number of customers without power reached 2,300 at its peak, CBS reported, and NIPSCO crews were working to restore service as of 5 pm CT Thursday.
The latest outage comes shortly after NIPSCO said it had restored power to 99% of customers affected by the August 11 storms, which knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands of customers across Northwest Indiana. Some Gary residents waited 15 or 16 days for power to return.
BIN previously reported on the toll the prolonged outage took on Gary residents, including residents who described the experience as unbearable and feared they could be without electricity for more than two weeks.
Now, some residents say they are back where they started.
Aja Hall, a Gary resident who documented her experience on social media, said her electricity was restored after 16 days. One week later, she said, her family was without power again.
“We’re back in the dark,” Hall said. “I have PTSD and I’m tired.”
Hall said she had recently purchased two packs of chicken and other groceries using a $300 voucher provided to residents affected by the previous outage. Now, she said, the food could end up in the trash.
“All the little orange juices and groceries and shit that I have, it’s all going in the trash,” she said.
Hall also showed the emergency supplies her family had gathered after the previous outage, including candles, lanterns, batteries, flashlights, a radio and a power bank.
“I guess we’re more prepared than we were before,” she said.
But the preparations have not eased her frustration. In an Instagram caption, Hall said the situation was exhausting “mentally, physically and emotionally.” She identified herself as a single mother and said she was considering leaving Gary.
“This is exhausting,” Hall said. “I’m a different level of tired.”
Another Gary resident, who posted on TikTok under the name @AsiaGawdess327, said she had also gone 15 days without power during the previous outage.
“I’m currently in my building where the power is out again,” she said. “I just was out of power for 15 days. Now this sh*t is out again.”
CBS reported the cause of the outage is unclear.
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