<p>Inside Melissa Dixon’s home in Gary, the lights are back on. Her refrigerator is working. And she’s playing music as she does yard work. The generator that she had on her front steps is gone now. </p><p>It's more than a month since Dixon and hundreds of thousands of others in Gary and across northwest Indiana were left without power, some for at least <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/graphics/weather/powerless/12-nights-without-power-in-Gary-Indiana/" target="_blank" ><u>two weeks</u></a>, and she's still feeling anxious.</p><p>It wasn’t until recently that she finally did a big grocery haul. Until then, she'd been buying only enough food for a day or two.</p><p>“I don’t want to put food in here or buy food for a couple days,” Dixon says, “because I don’t want to lose my food again.”</p><p>She was among nearly 375,000 of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company's customers — of the 500,000 it serves — who were without electricity for days after an Aug. 11 derecho. </p><p>Gusts of 99 miles an hour were recorded at the Gary/Chicago International Airport. But Gary was one of the last communities to have power fully restored, U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Indiana, whose congressional district includes Gary, said in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking for a federal <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2026/08/31/indianas-governor-demands-probe-of-power-utility-during-tour-of-storm-ravaged-gary" target="_blank" ><u>investigation</u></a> of NIPSCO’s response.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Melissa Dixon shows off wood she has started stockpiling outside her home in Gary. Dixon is worried about another natural disaster after she and her family faced about two weeks with no lights during a historic power outage." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/57e2daf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7420×4164+0+392/resize/490×275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F95%2Fd7%2Fb047358b4eba97a95e2c3c7f235d%2Fgaryupdate-260920-08.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7436e81/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7420×4164+0+392/resize/980×550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F95%2Fd7%2Fb047358b4eba97a95e2c3c7f235d%2Fgaryupdate-260920-08.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Melissa Dixon has started stockpiling wood outside her home in Gary in case of another natural disaster after she and her family faced about two weeks with no lights during a historic power outage.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>The calls for help haven’t stopped at Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church. The church organized food giveaways and opened to neighbors who were without power. Now, the Rev. Eric Boone, Tree of Life's senior pastor, says families in Gary are staying afloat, but things aren’t completely back to normal. Some people regained power only to find out their refrigerators no longer worked, he says.</p><p>“Even though lights came on, people’s bank accounts didn’t bounce back,” Boone says. “People’s food, refrigerators and freezers didn’t bounce back. Some people got mold. Some people’s houses are wrecked. Some people lost their cars.”</p><h3>Health worries</h3><p>Outside Dixon’s home, a large tree branch that had fallen on a neighbor’s property has been cut into smaller pieces. That's for firewood she plans to keep in case another storm knocks out the power again.</p><p>Inside, Dixon has stocked her refrigerator with staples like milk and eggs. She gets waffles to satisfy her four daughters, who range in age from 12 to 22 years old. Her younger daughters are all back in school. The house is mostly quiet with them in class. But steps from the kitchen, Dixon says she's worried about dark spots along the walls in her basement. Maybe those are mold. She keeps two dehumidifiers running in the basement, where she typically sleeps.</p><p>“We’re sick because of the mold,” Dixon says. “I started feeling really weird, like my vision … a lot of pain in my face and my neck area and going down my arm and my shoulder.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Melissa Dixon points to spots she worries are mold." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/91c8c67/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4739×2660+0+251/resize/490×275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F26%2Fe1%2F38b175a74cf98dded411f8ac09d8%2Fgaryupdate-260920-03.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/dc7c3be/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4739×2660+0+251/resize/980×550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F26%2Fe1%2F38b175a74cf98dded411f8ac09d8%2Fgaryupdate-260920-03.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Melissa Dixon points to spots she worries are mold.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Dixon says she started to feel sick soon after the power was restored. She was taking medicine to try to treat inflammation that has led to facial nerve problems.</p><p>She'd like to move her family out of her home temporarily — until she’s able to get it checked for mold and any necessary remediation. </p><p>But first she needs some support. She applied for disaster relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but her application is still pending.</p><p>The only financial help she has gotten is a $150 voucher from her township. Calling hotline after hotline has been like trying to win a contest rather than just get relief after a natural disaster.</p><p>“It’s like calling a radio station,” she says. “‘Ooh, am I going to win these tickets?’”</p><h3></h3><p>Dixon is among more than 33,000 people in Lake County, Indiana, who have applied for relief money from FEMA. The federal agency says $48.19 million has been allocated for Lake County but didn't say how many applications have been approved.</p><p>Gary officials distributed an additional $500,000 in disaster relief to about 1,200 households. In a city of about 67,000 people, that’s also only a fraction of the possible need.</p><p>Shanequa Cauley is among those in Gary who have struck out on getting help. She lost power for about nine days. It took much longer for her employer's power to be restored. That meant she lost out on about three weeks of pay.</p><p>Cauley says she borrowed from a friend to pay her rent on time. Some of the meals she and her 7-year-old daughter ate during the first weeks after the storm came from the City Life Center, which provided free hot meals to families in Gary. The center later gave out vouchers for $300 to use at a grocery store.</p><p>But those meals have since ended. Cauley is hopeful she can get her finances in better shape before the end of the month.</p><p>“I’m praying by next week everything should be good,” says Cauley, who <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/08/25/nipsco-filed-application-for-customer-rate-increases-amid-storm-that-ravaged-northwest-indiana" target="_blank" ><u>owes NIPSCO</u></a> about $89. “The first thing I’m going to do is get my NIPSCO caught up.”</p><h3>‘Refuse to be knocked out’</h3><p>Britney Rice, community adaptation program manager for the American Red Cross in Indiana, says caseworkers have been trying to connect Gary residents with the resources they need. Twenty-eight people are still living in temporary shelter, according to Rice, who says the Red Cross also assisted others in getting vouchers to stay at a hotel for 30 days.</p><p>Some people haven’t been able to replace the food they lost during the outage. For others, the Red Cross is helping get them into a better situation than they were before the storms, which could include helping them find a better job, Rice says.</p><p>“When people have been impacted by disasters and the trauma that goes along with it, and they kind of kick into survival mode, sometimes all they can see is what’s in front of them,” Rice says. “And they make decisions that, if they could have seen something much bigger, then they would have made bigger decisions.”</p><p>Boone says his Tree of Life congregation has been scrambling to get relief information out. There still are people trying to figure out how to get by, he says. But Boone says he’s been heartened by how people in Gary have come together.</p><p>“We are strong," Boone says. "We are some that don’t give in or give up easily. We might get knocked down, but we refuse to be knocked out.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Melissa Dixon still got a NIPSCO bill for $374. She wants the utility company to take responsibility for what she and her neighbors have been through." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9473b45/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6313×3543+0+334/resize/490×275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff0%2F4a%2Fc73f88564d73b521ba913da2056d%2Fgaryupdate-260920-07.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/82e53dc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6313×3543+0+334/resize/980×550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff0%2F4a%2Fc73f88564d73b521ba913da2056d%2Fgaryupdate-260920-07.JPG 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Melissa Dixon still got a NIPSCO bill for $374. She wants the utility company to take responsibility for what she and her neighbors have been through.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Dixon says she and her neighbors need more help, and she wants NIPSCO to take responsibility for what they’ve been through. Despite the disaster, she still got a NIPSCO bill for $374.</p><p>“It’s too much going on behind this power outage that we had to go through for two weeks,” she says. “It’s too much behind it. And the little that I’m going through, I could just imagine what other people are going through. I thought my home was safe. And now look: Me and my kids are truly sick.”</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
<div class="RelatedList-title">Related</div>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/graphics/weather/powerless/12-nights-without-power-in-Gary-Indiana/" target="_blank" >12 nights without power in Gary</a>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/photography/2026/08/29/how-we-photographed-historic-power-outage-gary" >How we photographed a historic power outage in Gary</a>
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<p></p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-bb0000" name="module-bb0000"></a>
<div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h4><b>Resources for Gary residents: </b></h4><ul id="rte-8e577230-b2e0-11f1-b4e7-c913838dcc8d"><li>FEMA is accepting applications until Oct. 25, which can be filled out online at <a class="Link" href="https://www.disasterassistance.gov/" target="_blank" >www.disasterassistance.gov</a>. The federal agency provides funds to cover emergency needs, like medical equipment and food, and to make home repairs.</li><li>The Indiana State Disaster Relief Fund can help residents replace or repair essential furniture, appliances or pay for needed inspections. Residents can <a class="Link" href=" https://app.brightharbor.com/signup/indiana-sdrf-june-august-2026" target="_blank" >apply online</a>.</li><li>To get help in person applying for FEMA and the state’s relief fund, residents can visit United Steelworkers Local 1014, located at 1301 Texas St., Gary, Indiana, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25th. Residents can also stop by from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 28 through Oct. 2. The site will be part of the state’s “One-Stop Shops” to get state and federal disaster relief assistance.</li><li>To talk to a caseworker at the Red Cross, residents can call 1 (800) 733-2767.</li></ul><br><h4><b>How to help Gary residents: </b></h4><ul id="rte-8e577231-b2e0-11f1-b4e7-c913838dcc8d"><li>Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church welcomes volunteers who want to help with relief efforts or their food pantry. They are located at 2323 W. 11th Ave., Gary, Indiana.</li><li>People interested in becoming a disaster volunteer with the Red Cross can visit, <a class="Link" href="https://redcross.org/volunteers" target="_blank" >redcross.org/volunteers</a>.</li><li>Hope Alliance of Northwest Indiana continues to distribute cleaning supplies and pays for residents to do loads of laundry. Volunteers interested in helping can call, (219) 316-0099.</li></ul></div>
</div><p></p>
In Gary, Indiana, a month after historic NIPSCO power outage, families still wait for relief 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-19 14:16:09
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