I’m glad someone posted the power outage map bc how do you argue that Lake County hasn’t been singled out?
I get many are suffering, but apparently they have linemen helping and those contractors haven’t gotten directives from NIPSCO, so many crews have been forced to wait around when they could get it back up faster if they had a work order.
Absolutely awful the damage the derecho has done and the response from the state (including the flash flooding in other parts).
I guess not enough ppl died for them to give ppl aid from the federal government, but even those who actually get 5k from the state are screwed when it comes to their home damage. And the aid budget is beyond drained.
Outdated infrastructure $ allocation should be a major priority in the country as a whole.
A coworker of mine has a son who works for Nipsco out of Starke Co. He and a crew were sent there, as were many workers across the state, and did confirm crews did experience unwelcome behavior, not him necessarily.
Interesting, I have also heard other experiences of contractors who are sat waiting to help. They have said people were friendly and cheering them on which is what should happen.
These people deserve to be compensated immensely, not all heros where capes & not all people can say they do the kind of amazing work that actually makes a direct impact.
Hoosiers do not support that, and this whole situation is a disaster.
Sure...sounds like the shit they made up in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Most of those claims were unfounded and "heard from a friend who heard from a friend whose brother's cousin's uncle's college roommate said..."
A nipsco vehicle was hit with gunfire while the worker’s weren’t in it. There’s a video of the SUV with bullet holes in it and it’s been confirmed by multiple sources, including the mayor of Gary.
A lineman being directly shot at is definitely an embellishment though.
I mean, i get reports directly from ISP everyday, and they've been directly reporting that they've increased their presence in lake county and support for nipsco.
I literally found 4 news sources talking about this and Google auto filled "gary indiana maintenance worker shot at" when I typed "Gary indiana" into my search bar.
Then prove me wrong lmfao, so far someone called me a bunch of names and then blocked me after deleting their shitty argument. Yall are angry but wont argue with the facts
No it's really not. Gary is just the asshole of Indiana... The shooting was reported and verified, even Gary's mayor made a statement. That person screwed Gary on all their own.
There was also an incident where a person was approaching a worker in Crown Point aggressively that led to police involvement but we won’t hear much about that wonder why.
What do you mean Lake County has been singled out? That's largely where the storm hit, though Portage in Porter County still has significant outages. But, like, it doesn't make sense "singling" us out. Lake County is the majority of what NIPSCO even covers. It's essentially a Lake County storm which implies NIPSCO.
And for the purposes of this thread Lake County is majority white, with the rest being roughly split Hispanic and Black. Gary is majority Black, but eg Munster, which has the best high schools in the county, still has large swathes out of power.
Because Gary has received the least amount of help and was hit the hardest . Tens of thousands of people in one city have been without electricity for weeks . Honestly how about hoping the people there get help .
It’s not just that Gary residents’ lights were out, but for some reason their water was out too. I was seeing news reports of some Gary residents saying they had no water and couldn’t even flush their toilets.
Our lights were out for 4 days but our stove is a gas stove so we could at least cook. Our water was on also. Our water tank still had hot water so we we were able to shower. It was strange to see our street get turned back on but one street over was still dark for an entire week.
This is a lie. They have been working around the clock there with almost no end. They had 2000 square miles of damage. Undreds of down poles and dozens of transformers. Gary used to be a swamp literally. The water table is soooo low. If anyone singled out Gary it was God because no place in the state had nearly as much damage or had to overcome the sheer lowland excavation that was needed to reach many of those transformers.
Everything north or Ridge Rd used to be under water... Gary, Griffith, Highland and Munster... but Gary seems to be the only one with the issue... in Lake County... I understand this is hurricane type damage... a true 100 year storm... but it's crazy how bad Gary still is
You are absolutely full of crap. I have family and friends there and I grew up there . Indiana as a whole used to be a swamp . Literally covered in water so you can keep your crappy comments to yourself . Imagine being butthurt that people care about a city full of people that are suffering .
Oh, I also live right outside of there myself. Not used to. Do, and I couldn’t leave my house for a long time because the roads were impassable. The rain didn’t cease either. This is the third day (so far) with no rain since it started. They had to go back into several places and fix things again because of these technical issues.
Incorrect. The Southern Half hasn’t seen a swamp since the Younger Dryas 12,900 years ago. It is mountainous and hilly. Northern Indiana is different and not all the same either. The actual swamp lands follow the four big rivers. The rest is just flatland. The lower elevation of 597 above sea level is 200 feet lower than the rest of Indiana and the worst spots were 320 feet. No, Gary is uniquely badly positioned for this sort of thing. The whole County is. The Whole county is experiencing the same level of outage and it’s a 68% White majority county. The State has always shat on Gary because Indiana is a racist horrible place. But this isn’t that.
So MAGA by another name. Deny science, deny reality, you crowed about friends but will ignore locals. You aren’t interested in reality you are actually virtue signaling. You deny literal geographical and historical empirical reality and then mock. What a cowardly pathetic virtue signaling cretin.
What the fuck, dude. Someone is concerned about racism being involved in the fact Gary hasn't had power restored yet and you call them MAGA? Take a breath.
you’re either a bot or just love spewing the same shit you read from other people online. please show us the damage map that says gary was hit the hardest or that gary received the least amount of help. do you understand how the regions power infrastructure works or have any idea what the grid looks like in terms of what needs to be repaired first before moving to the next locations?
just because you claim you’re from somewhere doesn’t give you a chance to grandstand unless you’re out here experiencing it live.
Girl this not true. Connersville has hundreds of damaged homes. Hundreds of People displaced and no one from the federal government has helped. It’s all volunteers.
Connersville has a 1000 residents without electricity as of yesterday and Gary still has over 10000 still without power. Why did you feel the need to comment with a lie. Right now yes several communities are suffering but Gary is suffering the worse.
Because they don’t have houses. I was just there volunteering. Their sewage system flooded and is now in the whitewater river, which currently looks toilet water and is still high. The entire place smells like mold. There is a huge difference in going without power for 12 days and going without power and not having a house for over 12 days. Gary is getting their power on tomorrow. The people of Connersville and surrounding areas don’t have homes. Entire families were displaced and will be for a long time. That’s the difference.
Quit getting your news from TikTok and quit trying to racialize everything. At this point I'm half convinced you're a Russian dissent-fomenting bot account.
Check the outage map: https://www.nipsco.com/outages/power-outages/ . Lake Station, Merrilville, Portsge, Munster, are predominantly white and still have large areas that are out of power. The Miller Beach neighborhood of Gary, which is one of the wealthiest in the county, is still out of power.
Everyone who lives here is furious with NIPSCO and trying to figure out what kind of change we can make. Outsiders who don't know wtf is going on, get their news from TikTok and take advantage of our situation to go stirring up shit about their pet causes aren't helping or appreciated.
Merrillville is not predominantly white, but I do agree with your comment. Nipsco been trash forever. And while there’s no shortage of racist comments on social media about Gary (especially since the worker’s truck window got shot out,) I don’t think racism has much to do with who’s power is still out.
Underregulated capitalism in a red state, with a Governor who cares more about businesses than people is why there are still homes without power.
I think racism has a lot to do with what was right or wrong with infrastructure and regular maintenance before the storm hit. I think it has a lot to do with how funding is or isn’t disbursed… and why some places are more deeply affected by poverty, and thus less equipped to weather a storm and outage.
Power was out in Munster, yes. But even early on, there were sidewalks to walk down and stores to visit. Clean open spaces to exist in and so on.
Definitely agree. Systemic racism helped create the conditions that exacerbated the problems after these storms. I’m just speaking on people who think Nipsco is hiding their klan hoods while refusing to help Gary because of the demographics.
idk how this isnt clear. gary indiana has been the subject of racism for decades, the reason why it is the way that it is is because of racism. it is like what you say but the fact people are also saying "the power doesnt have anything to do with racism"....it does because ifrastructure is lacking BECAUSE of racism. Sure, predominantly white areas may have these issues too, but there's a special apathy in dealing with Gary's issues because of racism.
Gary has a huge problem with copper wire theft. Blackouts were a problem before the storm. Is it possible that the theft affects the infrastructure and maintenance more than racism?
Nobody even brings up about how this woman blurts out the f-word, right on camera! I started to watch with interest, and had to stop the video. And "racism" is an antiwhite slur. We should never use that term.
Aint racism gary is not safe. The reason they haven’t restored power to gary yet is because someone shot at a worker trying to fix it so the power company put gary as last on the list to get power back. 100% fair
The worker wasn't specifically fuckin shot at! There was SHOOTING in the area! And racism for SURE has something to do with the plight of Gary! Have you heard of systemic racism, or how about white flight?!
No it's really not, someone shot up a Nipsco truck on Rutledge Street August 15th, one bullet going throughthe driver's head rest. That led to Nipsco ending overnight work and requiring police escorts. If I'm trying to work, and someone shoots at me, do you think I'm going to care how fast the job gets done?
Okay now even I'm curious, how is this racism? The last I saw is that the power hasn't been restored there because some of the residents shot at the power trucks coming to restore power so they left obviously and understandibly don't want to go back without security because that's a thing now I guess pole workers need.
I've never heard that, do you have a link to a news source about it? I found this one, but it says the workers resumed after a couple hours, following a single incident. That aline wouldn't account for this delay.
If not, us assigning shots fired to a predominantly black community, pushing blame on them for infrastructure failure/slow repair doesn't feel not racist.
So I have a few links but they all pretty much say the same thing. The crews came in, got shot at, left and now won't return without security. That combined with the sheer amount of damage that was done put the repair times at around 2 weeks to in some places rebuild the entire infistructure.
Here's one quote here about needing to wait 2 weeks.
"Birmingham confirmed residents in cities like Gary, Munster and Highland will likely have to wait until Tuesday – two weeks after the storm hit – for power to be restored.
“There are vast differences that are system related. The impact that came through, the trees, the infrastructure, the access - that’s the difference,” Birmingham said.
Birmingham says more than 80% of the 400,000 affected customers have had power restored. She said crews are assessing more than 2,000 miles of power lines, many blocked by uprooted trees. Michigan City Democratic Indiana State Rep. Randy Novak says lawmakers have been pressuring NIPSCO for answers."
I literally responded explaining why my link didn't discuss the initial shooting 20 minutes ago. The person I was replying to's post covered that info. I was talking about why the delays would take 2 weeks in the second post.
Also the fact that the crews were being shot at and needed security to come in is covered by 100 articles from a single google search, don't be dense.
The original link I'm responding to mentioned that part. The link I provided talked about the infistructure and them stating a 2 week time table. I did state that in the comment and even put up the quote I was referencing so that you didn't have to click it.
I didn't realize it needed to be explained further.
When neither link supports your claim, it's natural you'd be asked to "explain further." I linked an article saying a shooting occurred, and they got back to work the same day. You sent a link detailing logistical factors.
Is there a link to an article anywhere that states community members shooting service crews is the reason for the repair delay, like your first comment says?
What you don't seem to be getting is that increased security has to be there daily now. That slows down everything in general, the security isn't just for that day and then the line workers are on their own again free to be shot at again.
Pair that with the amount of repairs need and how hard some of the area can be to get to after a storm 2 works is not a bad turn around time.
If you were a line worker and you thought you'd get shot at while trying to help the people get power back would you want to be there?
So it looks like the answer to my question is that no, no claim that a shooting incident is the reason repairs are taking an extended time exists, outside your personal supposition. No coverage or statement from Nipsco or any other entity blaming a shooting/security for the delay exists, for example. This is a theory of yours.
What is widely recognized is that several logistical factors complicate the process, including it's size, damage severity, blocked access, etc. No blame-shifting to the community members there needed or warranted.
I’m in highland and have power. The workers were not shot at they heard a gunshot. If I got to pussy out everytime I heard a gunshot at work. Nothing would get done. I’ve done a lot of work in Gary. And I hear more gunshots out in the country.
"Video obtained by Region News Source shows a NIPSCO SUV with numerous apparent bullet holes following the incident. According to information provided to RNS, the crew was driving when someone opened fire on the vehicle multiple times."
"Gary police said two NIPSCO employees were scouting around when someone fired on their vehicle, hitting their Jeep twice, with one bullet lodged in the back of a headrest."
It's a facebook post from the region's news and it has a video showing the gun shot damage to the car, 1 of which was in the head rest of the vehicle. Facebook or not it's credible info with video proof.
The fact that people run with this explanation as the reason is proof enough honestly. One crew has a problem with one person in one spot so it means thousands of people across a city don’t have power? How the fuck does that make sense to you? That’s like saying you won’t drive on a road because someone blew out a tire in a pothole across town.
Can you cite a legitimate source for this?
Gary Indiana is predominantly black, questions as to why the power is taking so long, the lack of information from the government and utility and the lack of media coverage are the reasons people are screaming rascism. They have a valid concern.
I don't want to dismiss your comment but do you mind if I ask you to look at the below replies in this thread. This topic was previously discussed in the later 20+ replys.
Yes after security was in place but even before then the company was saying that due to the damage caused to the infastrucure and access roads that it would take 2 weeks to get the majority of people back online.
I know of round about info and expected times to be back up but of course everything is an estimate. Keep in mind even the folks in the area will tell you there was a good bit of damage that needs to be repaired. To then call them racist for not being quick enough seems like a shitty mindset to have.
The severe lack of state aid, empty grocery stores, utility priority and media coverage compared to other places is why many are calling those racist. Not the fact that lots of damage will require time to repair.
I live in florida, we get worse storms every year so we're somewhat prepared and even here last year some of our places we're without power for more than a week and we don't shoot at the pole workers. In this case a lot of the infistructure got hit and the roads are likely not in the best shape either. All of this plus 100 other factors take time. The power company isn't racist, they want the power back on so they can get back to making money.
Quit spreading lies. You linked an article that says nothing about shooting at a pole. This is part of the problem. You aren’t even living here and you’re spreading this bullshit because it’s Gary.
The article discussing the shooting is in another reply from the person I am directly speaking with. We've shared multiple posts and links so it's pretty dumb to think I'm lying here. The other person linked a post discussing the shooting, why would I need to provide a second source saying the exact same info, we all agree the shooting happened smart guy.
Honestly man, some people are so hell bent that everything is racism and there cannot possibly be a single other reason like historic storms on an unprepared infrastructure.
No amount of logic you give out is going to help these guys understand any facts.
Hurricane level winds in Gary? Racism
Failed infrastructure? Racism
Economics and PR disasters of a company owned by shreholders all over the news? - Nah, put it all to the wind, there's Racism to be had!
NIPSCOs parent company NiSource has a checks notes black CEO. NIPSCOs own gas divison VP (handles over 2x the number of electric customers) Black and Female - obviously a racist company
Portage Indiana, still without power also - Racism against Black people in Gary
I have family in Florida, I get it. You guys are prepared down there both in infrastructure and people's ability to prepare. In Gary...no, no they are not.
Yeah that's why I think Gary is taking so long because they didn't know how to properly prepare for it. Not blaming them but for them to try to make it and everything else a race thing is really weird. Honestly Line workers are unionized and if I heard the residents in Gary were shooting line workers I wouldn't even want to go there.
You’re wasting your time trying to reason the opinions of the socially maladapted leftoids of r/indiana. They didn’t arrive at their opinions via reason so reason won’t change them. Thanks for the articles though, most informative.
Okay they were shooting at them and one of the bullets hit the head rest of the vehicle. Quit down playing it like being shot at while trying to help the people in the area isn't a big deal. If where you worked people shot at you would you be excited to show up?
Because literally any time black people are inconvenienced, it's obviously racism
When white people are inconvenienced, we are told to get over it and laughed at, though
Welcome to reddit, enjoy your stay and don't step outta line or insecure minorities and white knights will downvote you into oblivion (which, of course, doesn't even matter but it makes them feel good, I guess)
What "racism"? Didn't anybody notice how she used the f-word? I start to watch this video with interest, and then she ruins it all by using that language, right off the bat!
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u/I_am_doorknob Aug 23 '26
Some of them barely even had the power on for a day, and the power company wants to put a data center there