Thousands lost power Thursday after storms hit Northwest Indiana

HOBART, Ind. - The storms may have moved through quickly, but for thousands of NIPSCO customers, the power problems continued well after the rain stopped.

More power outages in Indiana

The backstory:

At one point Thursday morning, more than 4,000 NIPSCO customers lost power. Among them was Brian Farmer, who moved into his home with his wife and 11-month-old daughter in January. He says they've experienced power outages repeatedly since moving in — including an outage that lasted about two weeks following the August storms.

"Pretty much every month since we've moved in, power's been out pretty consistently, from two days to the longest probably being two weeks in August after that last storm," said Farmer.

Farmer told Fox Chicago he bought a generator expecting to use it only occasionally.

"Not even close to that," said Farmer. "Figured we might have to use it a few times just in the event that something big does happen, but spending $30 every day trying to get gas for the gas cans, it starts adding up. It's made living with an 11-month-old a lot harder. She doesn't like sitting still, and not a lot to do when the power's out."

Farmer says Thursday morning's outage was unexpected. He woke up, realized the power was out, and immediately felt like August all over again.

"Oh yeah, totally déjà vu," said Farmer. "It's like waking up and it's falling back into the same routine we had to do for two weeks while the power was out last time. Just picking right up where we left off."

Farmer says he wants NIPSCO to do more to maintain the system, including dealing with vegetation around power lines.

"I think NIPSCO needs to maintain their power grid a little bit better in these areas and take care of the foliage, like they're supposed to," said Farmer. 

Data center concerns

The latest outage comes as Hobart residents continue to debate the proposed data center development. Barbara Koteles lives in the Merrillville Heights, just minutes away from the proposed project. She says she's already concerned about the development's potential impact on the community — including electricity and water usage. Thursday's outage hit particularly close to home.

"I know, it's very suspicious. Every time I'm out of power, it's usually a day or two at least. Last time it was 12 days," said Koteles.

She said the outage left her going to a friend's house to charge her phone and keep water bottles cold. Koteles added the experience has made her question how the region's existing infrastructure will handle a massive data center development.

"If NIPSCO has a hard time powering the homes in Northwest Indiana and Lake County, how are they ever going to power one of the biggest data centers in the United States," said Koteles.

Another Hobart resident, Albina Venegas-Roman, says the repeated outages have also affected her family. During a previous outage, she says she had to manually remove water from her basement because her sump pump wasn't operating.

"Before we were out of power for 11 days, I had to throw away all my food, my sump pump," said Venegas-Roman. "I had hand empty out my sum pump with 40 buckets a day so that my basement wouldn't flood."

Now, she says another outage has her questioning whether she wants to remain in the neighborhood.

"Before we were out of power for 11 days, I had to throw away all my food, my sump pump," said Venegas-Roman. "I had hand empty out my sum pump with 40 buckets a day so that my basement wouldn't flood. And now we don't have power today and it just it's like a nightmare. It really is."

What NIPSCO says

NIPSCO says outages can happen for a number of reasons, including weather, equipment problems, vehicle accidents and other unexpected events.

The utility says its crews are prepared to respond and restore service as safely and quickly as possible.

NIPSCO is directing customers to its online outage map for the latest outage information and restoration updates.

What's next:

For residents who have already endured lengthy outages this summer, Thursday's storms brought another unwelcome interruption.

And in Hobart, the power outage is adding another layer to an ongoing debate over the proposed data center and whether the region's existing infrastructure can handle the development.

For now, residents are waiting for their power to come back on — and for answers about what future outages could mean for their homes and their community.

 

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