Crusader Staff Report
Power has been restored after thousands of Gary residents were left in the dark Tuesday.
High winds caused tumbling trees, poles and outages on Monday leaving more than 48,000 without power at one point.
A NIPSCO spokesperson said crews determined the outage stemmed from an issue at a substation near Virginia Street and 8th Avenue.
“Crews have been working to resolve the issue and customers are expected to be restored shortly this morning,” the spokesman said. “At this time, the specific cause is not yet determined, and it is unclear whether it was due to the weather conditions or the result of an equipment issue.”
East Chicago, Hammond, Bristol and Hobart were all affected but Gary had the largest number of remaining outages with 3,200 reported, according to its website.
By Wednesday morning, most of the power to homes and businesses in Gary had been restored. NIPSCO’s map of outages showed 81 structures were still without power.
About 350 homes are still affected in East Chicago, with another 150 in Dyer. Service crews were out Tuesday fixing 1,100 issues causing the remaining outages, the utility said.
Banneker Elementary at Marquette was closed Tuesday. Several schools including Banneker, McCullough, Bethune, Williams and Gary Middle School experienced power outages on Monday. On Wednesday, the Gary Community School Corporation on its website said Williams was closed that day because of the power outage.
To report an outage, call NIPSCO at 1-800-464-7726.
