44,400 Indiana customers still lacked power 10 days after storms
What's next: NIPSCO expects some cities to stay dark until Aug. 25, stretching outages in Gary and nearby areas to nearly two weeks.
More than 44,000 homes and businesses in Indiana still had no electricity Friday, 10 days after powerful storms tore through the state with winds near 100 mph. Northern Indiana Public Service Co., or NIPSCO, said 44,400 customers remained offline after restoring service to 330,100 of 374,500 outage cases recorded since Aug. 11. The heaviest disruption has hit northwest Indiana, including Gary and Lake County near the Illinois border, where residents have lined up for hot meals, charging stations and other aid. Schools in Gary remained closed, and officials have warned full restoration in some communities may not come until Tuesday, Aug. 25. The storms downed trees and power lines and flooded neighborhoods, while prolonged outages raised concerns about spoiled food, medical devices and generator safety.