Photo Credit: PBS
(OPGOV GLOBAL) – Tens of thousands of residents are stranded without electricity, utilities, and in many cases, food and water across Indiana. The situation began last Tuesday when a vicious storm brought deadly flooding across the state.
The current death toll is estimated to be at least seven so far, but official tallies won’t be available until the state is able to initiate cleanup efforts once the catastrophe has ended.
According to PowerOutage.com, a total of over 89,000 residents and counting are without power as of this writing, with the most concentrated areas including Lake and Porter Counties. LaPorte County is also seeing over a thousand households without power.
Photo Credit: PowerOutage.com
OpGov.News reached out to the press hotline for Nipsco, where a representative provided an update on the current number of residents who are still out of power and who have been restored. She states that the next update will be live on the website at nipsco.com/out at 7am local time Wednesday morning.
“At this time, the latest and the only information we really have is on our website; we put an update out at 9pm at nipsco.com/out, and that has all of our restoration numbers, the overview of the current status, and then the next update which will have additional info will be at 7am tomorrow morning,” she says, “...Where we are currently with restoration numbers, the update that went out at nine had us listed at 92,000 customers that were still out. Since that time, additional customers have been restored; the map is now down to 89,200 customers [without power].”
The website in question lists an incomprehensible amount of needed repairs as seen in the image below.
Photo Credit: NIPSCO
Local residents are reporting on social media platforms their experiences with this ongoing emergency, stating that they are out of food and water, do not have electricity or running water, and are losing their safety as looting begins in many areas.
One local resident shared her experience on Instagram under the handle ajahallh. Her recent video showcases how dire the situation is, especially for families with special needs members.
Her video began with a timestamp: day seven with no power. “As you can see from the bags under my **** eyes, I’m tired. First things first, I have no food. That refrigerator is as empty as my soul right now.”
Photo Credit: Instagram / ajahallh
She continues with updates she received from Nipsco, the company responsible for power in the area; according to her, the company first stated that power would be restored by last Friday, then says the company stated it would pause repair services due to an alleged shooting at a company vehicle in Gary.
A spokesperson told CBS News Chicago that repair services resumed Saturday following the incident, and Gary Police would be organizing security plans for workers.
Aja also shared how her struggle without basic necessities is impacting her child with autism, who relies on things such as educational games to stay calm. Her house has been severely damaged from the storm as well, making her home hot and humid with no way to temper the weather.
Her GoFundMe can be found here.
On August 13, Governor Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency, according to the Indiana State Government Website.
Other Instagram users are questioning why the situation is not showing up across national news.
Interestingly, major news outlets including NPR, ABS, NBC, and FOX, among others, are indeed publishing reports on the situation as it continues. However, many social media users state that no national news headlines have touched the topic, and that they learned about it from other social media posts that were shared thousands of times.
Photo Credit: Instagram / theejackik
One user from neighboring Michigan stated she was entirely unaware of the critical nature of the flooding and damage across Indiana, and only found out due to a shared video on her page.
Others are chiming in to say the same: the entire crisis is not reaching national audiences like it should with so many people posting about their own situations and sharing news from major outlets in their posts.
Some financial assistance is now becoming available to Indiana residents displaced by the storm; more information can be found here.
This page contains lists of shelters, emergency services, and other resources available as of now for Indiana residents. Wishtv.com has compiled a list of places you can donate to or support during the ongoing disaster here,
This is a developing story. OpGov.News will continue to cover the situation as more details become available.
To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at tracy.t@lead4earth.org.
0
0
Comments