Parts of Gary are still without power. Residents blame NIPSCO

Utility says it’s working around the clock, but city officials say they feel ignored.

(FREE PRESS INDIANA NEWS) — Julene Anderson, a 61-year-old mother in Gary, still didn’t have power on Friday. It’s been 11 days since straight-line winds and two tornadoes led to the largest power outage in the history of NIPSCO, the northwest Indiana utility provider.

The widespread outage has left large swaths of the city without working traffic signals, air conditioning or fans, reliable ways to store and cook food and limited ability to manage medications and medical devices.

For the last two weeks, Anderson’s main priority has been finding enough ice to keep food and water cool and enough gas to drive to get ice.

Both are still difficult to find anywhere in the city, Anderson said.

“I literally waited an hour and 45 minutes in line at the station only to get up to my turn at the pump and they ran out,” she said. “I had to pray, ‘God, please get me home on these fumes,’ because I live quite a bit away.”