NIPSCO | Power restoration will take days after 300K in Northwest Indiana lost service
As of mid-Wednesday afternoon, NIPSCO restored power to 30,000 customers after Tuesday's windstorms and still has nearly 270,000 customers to go.
The Merrillville-based utility said it will take days to restore everyone's electric service. It has described the storm that left 95% of Lake County out of power as the largest outage in company history and brought in more than 1,200 crews from other utilities and contractors across the Midwest.
"The Aug. 11, 2026 storm remains the most severe storm event in NIPSCO's history. Approximately 60% of our electric customers lost service as a result of a powerful storm system that moved across northern Indiana on Tuesday," NIPSCO spokeswoman Jessica Cantarelli said.
The Storm Prediction Center classified the storm as a derecho with wind gusts reaching nearly 100 mph in Gary.
"In addition to destructive winds, the storm produced significant tree damage, flooding, blocked roadways and extensive damage to electric infrastructure that we are assessing," she said. "Damage assessments remain ongoing, and crews continue to identify new damage as access improves across affected areas. Our employees have been working around the clock since the storm hit, and restoration efforts remain our top priority."
More reinforcements are on the way, Canterelli said.
"We have activated more than 1,200 mutual assistance crew resources and continue bringing in additional crews from utilities and contractors across the country," Cantarelli said. "Those crews are arriving, being staged and deployed throughout our service territory as quickly and safely as possible. Every available resource is focused on restoration."
Another storm hit Northwest Indiana on Wednesday morning, affecting the restoration work of the utility crews in the field.
"With additional weather moving through, our teams continue to monitor evolving conditions," she said. "Severe weather, lightning, heavy rain, flooding, debris and difficult road conditions can all impact damage assessment and restoration work. While we continue making progress, safety remains the top priority for both our crews and the public."
In Illinois, ComEd dispatched 4,000 workers, crews and contractors to work around the clock after the storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, which brought another 30,000 outages. ComEd has restored power to more than 275,000 of the 410,000 customers so far. The utility estimated it would have power restored to 80% of the customers by Thursday and to 99% by Saturday.
NIPSCO said it was working around the clock to restore service.
The utility is still working on ascertaining the extent of the damage and figuring out how to get service back online in many communities.
"We understand customers want restoration estimates, and we understand the impact these outages are having on families, businesses and communities," she said. "However, given the magnitude and complexity of the damage, we do not want to provide timelines that may ultimately prove inaccurate. We know how important this information is, and we are committed to sharing restoration estimates as soon as we have completed sufficient damage assessments to provide reliable information."
The storm initially left more than 300,000 households and businesses without service, affecting nearly 95% of the more than 500,000 Lake County residents. It will take days to get the power back on for many.
"At this time, we can say this will be a multi-day restoration effort," she said. "We appreciate the patience of our customers and communities as our employees, mutual assistance crews, and contractors continue working around the clock to safely restore service."
Posted Aug 12, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC