Gary, Indiana, nears full power restoration more than 2 weeks after violent storms

A powerful derecho struck northern Indiana and other parts of the Midwest on Aug. 11, knocking out power to tens of thousands.

More than two weeks after violent storms wiped out power to thousands of customers, the lights and air conditioners were finally back on Wednesday for almost all residents of Gary, Indiana.

As of Wednesday evening, just over 100 utility customers in the city of 69,000 were still experiencing outages, according to the Northern Indiana Public Service Co., known as NIPSCO.

“Storm restoration efforts related to the Aug. 11 storm and subsequent weather events are substantially complete,” the company said in an update on its website Wednesday morning. “While crews continue working through a limited number of individual outage cases, restoration activities have concluded across the broader service territory.”

A derecho — a storm that can produce tornado-strength winds — struck Indiana and other parts of the Midwest with straight-line winds of 70 to 100-plus mph on the morning of Aug. 11, the National Weather Service said.

It tore down power lines and inflicted what NIPSCO called “the worst damage in known company history,” knocking out power to 80% of its customers, around 375,000. Fewer than 150 outages remained Wednesday night in the rest of the company’s service area.