Class-action lawsuit alleges NIPSCO failed to trim trees before storms
The Northern Indiana Public Service Company (Nipsco) reported that 33,124 customers remained without electric service as of Saturday, the 11th day since severe storms swept through the state on August 11. The utility said residents of Gary, one of the hardest-hit communities, may not see power restored until Tuesday — two weeks after the start of the storm system.
Nipsco said it had restored power to 341,376 of the 374,500 customers who lost service during the storms. “Substantial progress has been made in restoring service to our communities,” the utility said in a statement, but added that customers “may continue to encounter circumstances that temporarily increase numbers of outages.”
About 300 power poles were damaged in the storms, according to the utility. In Gary’s Aetna neighborhood, downed trees still line the streets alongside storm debris, residents said. The outages have rippled through daily life — disrupting food distribution, closing businesses, idling schools, knocking out gas pumps, and spoiling refrigerators across the region.
Gary resident Cynthia Hunter described charging phones in her car and spending nights in vehicles for air conditioning. “I feel that we have just like learned to adapt to it,” Hunter told the CBS News affiliate in Chicago. “We’re trying to maintain, but it’s not easy. We have every window in our house open, you know, trying to maintain safety as well.”
Renita Theus, 41, told the New York Times she was struggling with the heat. “Every day I’m crying. It’s hot in the house. I toss and turn and can’t sleep. I walked to the dollar store and they’re all out of candles and batteries,” Theus said. Her car was trapped under a fallen tree. “There’s a lot of people here struggling,” she added. “I feel bad for newborn babies and people on ventilators. I think if this was a richer area, it would be different.”
Bridget Sanders, another Gary resident, called the utility’s statement “ridiculous.” “It’s unacceptable. They need to do better,” Sanders told CBS News. She said residents “are being left behind” and treated as “the last ones on the totem pole.”
Residents have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Nipsco, accusing the utility of failing to trim trees that brought down power lines. Attorney Otto Shragal of the Allen Law Group said, “This situation was predictable. It was obvious and it was preventable.”
Nipsco denied the allegations. “We strongly disagree with the characterization of Nipsco’s vegetation management practices,” the company said, adding that its vegetation management spending “has more than doubled since 2016, demonstrating our commitment and focus on maintaining a safe and reliable electric system.” The utility said it was suspending disconnections for customers having trouble paying their bills.
The storms brought winds exceeding 80 mph, severe flooding, and tornadoes to Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center recorded straight-line winds at 99 mph in Gary. Rainfall totals reached 6 to 9 inches in many areas, with the highest reported total at least 11.23 inches.
The storm system killed several people, including a four-year-old child who died after a tree fell on his home in Geneva Township, and another person in a suspected weather-related house explosion in Portage, a city about 30 miles southeast of Chicago.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun said on X that he had formally requested an expedited major disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 54 counties. Braun’s request stated the storm system produced at least three confirmed tornadoes, flash flooding, and extreme straight-line winds. “If granted, this declaration will mean significantly more resources to accelerate Indiana’s recovery from the recent severe weather. I will do everything in my power to ensure Hoosiers have the resources needed to recover,” Braun wrote, using a term for residents of Indiana.
The Trump administration granted an emergency declaration for the affected Indiana counties, and a state relief fund is providing emergency aid grants of as much as $5,000.