Gary residents turn to prayer as power outage stretches into third week

GARY — Nearly 5,000 Northwest Indiana residences were preparing to enter their third week without electricity following severe storms that left widespread outages Aug. 11.

Inside the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church, members of the congregation surrounded Mayor Eddie Melton at the pulpit Monday night, laying hands on him and raising their arms in prayer. Pastors and city officials addressed the room full of residents still living without power.

Dozens of people whose homes are without power gathered to listen to pastors and others speak. Though the evening was full of dance and prayer, frustrations continue to mount in Gary, where residents say there is a lack of urgency and transparency from utility provider Northern Indiana Public Service Company, or NIPSCO.

Pastor Dyke Lee of the First Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church said he wishes NIPSCO would do more to help prevent the widespread devastation the city finds itself dealing with — specifically in dealing with trees and other foliage that’s caused damage to power lines.

“We’re praying there’s a plan moving forward,” Lee, a city resident, said, “to take care of the green and the trees so we can be more prepared.”

NIPSCO expects power to be restored in Munster and Lake Station by the end of Monday, and in Gary and Portage by the end of Tuesday, according to its website.

Speakers stressed the importance of community at this moment. While the congregation prided itself on its resilience, some stressed the city needs to demand more for its residents. They also spoke of the upcoming November midterm elections and how important it is to vote.

Melton, who addressed the congregation, said his conversations with NIPSCO have evolved from asking when power will be restored to how it plans to prepare better for future severe weather events. Melton expressed frustration with NIPSCO as well, for what he considered a lack of transparency.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that I worked for NIPSCO for 15 years,” said Melton, a former Democratic lawmaker in the Indiana Senate. “It doesn’t take that long to turn the lights back on.”

Melton also told the congregation he spoke to President Donald Trump earlier on Monday about the needs of the city.

“I told the President we need help now,” he said. “Folks are without food. When the lights come on, we still have to replenish refrigerators.

“We’re telling the governor to increase SNAP benefits, before folks starve. They cut SNAP benefits a few months ago. This is a day by day decision making process. So when [we] talk about voting, it’s a serious matter.”

Indiana lawmakers passed restrictions this year to SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that provides food assistance to low-income households. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law last year, cut SNAP funding by $186 billion.

Gov. Mike Braun has formally requested major disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

State aid has already been made available for displaced families — those funds are about $5,000 for food and other basic necessities. The state is also providing housing vouchers for individuals.

Earlier Monday, Braun asked Indiana‘s utility watchdog to seek an investigation into NIPSCO.

Contact WFYI Morning Edition newscaster and reporter Barb Anguiano at banguiano@wfyi.org.