The electric utility serving Northwest Indiana, NIPSCO, is reporting progress recovering from what it calls "one of the most significant outage events" in the company's history.
It said, as of 11 a.m. on Friday, 185-thousand customers remained without power.
NIPSCO says, in a statement, it understands the "hardship, frustration and disruption" this is causing.
It says three days of storm events have presented "extraordinary challenges."
At one point more than 60-percent of customers had no power.
More than 300-thousand.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said he thought if the city cleared the way for utility crews, they'd be there sooner.
"We were hopeful that if we busted our butts in Hammond it would make a difference and it has not made a difference and I'm sad about that."
He said it would be politically popular to rip the utility.
But that would be dumb.
"In their defense, we were hit with an inland hurricane, tornados, widespread damage across their entire service area."
NIPSCO is getting assistance from outside crews and the National Guard.
It expects that 90-percent of customers will be restored on Tuesday.
100-percent next Friday.
From NIPSCO:
Outage Update at 11 a.m. CT Aug. 14, 2026 (Next Update Aug. 14, 2026 at 4 p.m. CT)
We know many customers have now been without power for several days, and we understand the hardship, frustration and disruption this has created for families, businesses and communities across northern Indiana. We know customers are eager for information, and we want you to know that every available resource is focused on restoring power safely and as quickly as possible.
Since Tuesday, NIPSCO customers have experienced three significant and consecutive severe weather events that have caused unprecedented damage across our electric system. Customer outages peaked at approximately 301,000 following Tuesday's storm, increased to approximately 313,000 following Wednesday's storm, and reached approximately 317,000 following Thursday's storm. At peak, more than 60% of NIPSCO's electric customers were without power, making this one of the most significant outage events in company history.
As of 11 a.m. CT, approximately 185,000 customers remain without power. Approximately 132,000 customers have had their power restored despite the continued impact of multiple severe storm events. Despite the extraordinary challenges created by these back-to-back storms, crews continue to make meaningful progress. Thousands of NIPSCO employees, contractor resources, mutual assistance personnel and employees from our affiliated Columbia Gas companies continue working around the clock, 24 hours a day, to repair damage, rebuild critical infrastructure and restore service as quickly and safely as possible.
Over the past several days, crews have worked continuously to assess damage, respond to safety hazards and rebuild critical portions of the electric system. Restoration efforts have been challenged by extensive tree damage, blocked roadways, flooding, entangled power lines, damaged poles, and significant damage to transmission lines, substations and distribution facilities that serve entire communities. Additional storms on Wednesday and Thursday created new outages, caused additional damage and slowed restoration work already underway.
This restoration effort extends far beyond line workers in the field. Thousands of employees are supporting restoration operations, logistics, customer communications, damage assessment, engineering, forestry and system operations to support one of the largest restoration efforts in company history.
At the direction of the Indiana State Emergency Operations Center, the Indiana National Guard is supporting response efforts in portions of our service territory. A collaborative effort is underway to address access challenges, support logistics operations and assist impacted communities as restoration work continues.
While restoration work remains ongoing, we are now able to provide system-level restoration expectations. Based on current damage assessments and restoration plans, NIPSCO expects to restore power to approximately 90% of impacted customers by Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 11:59 p.m. and complete restoration for 100% of customers by Friday, Aug. 21 at 11:59 p.m.
We also understand customers are looking for information specific to their local community. Community-level estimated restoration times (ETRs) are currently being developed and are expected to be released on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 16.
Customers should continue to monitor weather forecasts over the coming days. Forecasts indicate the potential for additional storm activity across northern Indiana. Any significant severe weather could create new outages, cause additional damage and temporarily impact ongoing restoration efforts. Crews remain prepared to respond to changing conditions while continuing restoration work wherever it is safe to do so.
Although restoration timelines are now available at the system level, customers should understand that this remains a highly dynamic situation. Additional damage continues to be identified as crews complete detailed assessments, and restoration plans may be adjusted to address newly discovered issues, critical infrastructure priorities and changing weather conditions.
We remain fully committed to restoring power to every customer affected by these historic storms. Crews will continue working around the clock until all customers who can safely receive service have power restored. We sincerely appreciate our customers' patience, resilience and understanding as this unprecedented restoration effort continues.
