Indiana National Guard deployed for storm cleanup as more than 230K remain without power

MUNSTER, Ind. - More than 230,000 NIPSCO customers were still without power Thursday as crews responded to the largest outage in the utility's history. 

Meanwhile, widespread storm damage has triggered a large-scale recovery effort, with members of the Indiana National Guard deployed to assist with debris removal.

Power outages remain in northwest Indiana

The backstory:

Within hours of Indiana Gov. Mike Braun declaring a statewide disaster emergency Thursday morning, members of the Indiana National Guard had boots on the ground.

Thirty National Guard members were deployed to Munster, while another 30 were sent to Hobart. For the next three days, they will be clearing fallen trees and debris from some of the area's hardest-hit neighborhoods. 

The 113th Engineer Battalion was in the middle of its annual two-week training at Camp Atterbury, just south of Indianapolis, when the call for help came in.

"Our mission is always about Hoosiers helping Hoosiers, so we are always ready anytime, anywhere to answer the call — whenever it's necessary," said Capt. Jordan Baker of the Indiana National Guard's 113th Engineer Battalion. 

Baker said National Guard members are using heavy equipment and chainsaws to clear roads and help community members who experienced some of the worst damage from Tuesday's storms.

"The goal today is to clear the right of way, to allow both utility reconnection as well as road access, so everybody can get their utility services back on, get into their driveways," Baker said. 

Just east of Wilbur Wright Middle School, decades-old trees were uprooted. At one home, a large section of the lawn came with one of them. 

Community members said so many trees came crashing down Tuesday that access to garages and front doors was cut off, initially trapping some residents inside their homes.

"My wife's from Munster originally. We liked the neighborhood because of the trees. Then on Tuesday, obviously, the storm hit," said Josh Adducci, who moved to the neighborhood with his family just two months ago. "I was at work at Tony's Pizza in Beecher, Illinois, and I came home because my wife said two trees came onto the house, and so I rushed home to what you see behind us. Just kind of working through to get it cleaned up, everybody in the neighborhood kind of helping each other out."

With support from National Guard members, residents are pulling together to do what they can as they wait for power to be restored.

What's next:

The Indiana National Guard is expected to remain in Lake County for three days to support storm recovery efforts. 

Tuesday's storms have forced several area school districts to postpone the start of classes until next week — including the School Town of Munster and Crown Point School Community Corporation. 

NIPSCO customers can monitor the latest outage numbers on the utility's outage map.