Gary residents line up at community centers for meals and phone charging
Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the area’s sole electric utility, said 85,000 customers in northwest Indiana remained without power as of Wednesday morning, more than a week after storms struck the region on Aug. 11. The utility said crews have been working nonstop on repairs and have restored service to 285,000 customers since the storm hit.
More than 22,000 of those customers were in Gary, where residents lined up at community centers for hot meals and chances to charge their phones.
Jeremy Spurrier, a 51-year-old safety manager at a wastewater plant in Portage — about 40 miles southwest of Chicago — said he is fortunate to have a generator to power the home he shares with his girlfriend and daughter. But the generator burns through about $75 worth of gas a day.
All the food in his refrigerator has spoiled, Spurrier said, forcing the family to rely on nonperishables like soup. Spurrier, who has diabetes, said he has had to drive to Illinois to get ice to keep his insulin usable during the outage.