Gary Needs Power AND Emergency Relief Now — Protect Our Elderly, Disabled & Medically Vulnerable Residents

To NIPSCO, the City of Gary, Lake County officials, the State of Indiana, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, FEMA, and all agencies involved in this emergency response:

We, the undersigned residents, family members, loved ones, and supporters of the City of Gary and Northwest Indiana, are demanding an immediate, coordinated emergency response for residents suffering through this prolonged power crisis.

On August 11, 2026, a devastating derecho and severe storms struck Northwest Indiana, causing catastrophic damage to the electrical system, homes, businesses, roads, and communities. Gary subsequently declared a local disaster emergency.

For many families, this is no longer simply an inconvenience or a normal power outage.

This has become a public health and humanitarian emergency.

Residents have gone more than a week without dependable electricity. Elderly residents are sitting in homes without adequate power. People who depend on electrically powered medical equipment are being forced to find ways to keep that equipment running. Families are struggling to preserve refrigerated medications. Residents who use oxygen equipment have had to seek emergency alternatives. Parents have lost refrigerators and freezers full of food. Families are purchasing ice, gasoline, generators, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, batteries, and other necessities—expenses many households simply cannot afford.

NIPSCO has acknowledged the extraordinary scale of the destruction, reporting more than 1,500 damaged transmission and distribution poles, five damaged transmission towers, and approximately 2.1 million feet of damaged electrical wire following the August 11 storm.

We recognize that utility workers, first responders, city employees, volunteers, churches, nonprofit organizations, and community partners are working under extremely difficult conditions.

We appreciate those workers. This petition is not an attack on the men and women repairing our communities.

But meals, bottled water, charging stations, tarps, and temporary generators alone are not enough when households are facing an extended loss of one of the most basic necessities of modern life: ELECTRICITY.

We are demanding an expanded emergency response that includes:
Accelerated restoration of electrical service, with additional mutual-aid crews and resources deployed wherever safely possible.

Priority assistance for medically vulnerable residents, including people who rely on oxygen concentrators, CPAP/BiPAP machines, home dialysis equipment, powered wheelchairs, nebulizers, refrigerated medications, and other electricity-dependent medical devices.

24-hour emergency locations with reliable backup power for residents whose medical conditions make remaining in an unpowered home unsafe.

Transportation for elderly and disabled residents who cannot independently reach shelters, cooling centers, charging stations, oxygen services, pharmacies, or food distribution locations.

Door-to-door wellness checks in heavily affected neighborhoods, with priority given to seniors, people with disabilities, homebound residents, and individuals known to depend on medical equipment.
Emergency generator, battery-backup, and fuel assistance for qualifying medically vulnerable and low-income households during prolonged outages.

Safe refrigeration assistance for essential medications, including locations where residents can properly store temperature-sensitive prescriptions when their refrigerators are unusable.
Emergency hotel or temporary lodging assistance for households where continued loss of power creates a health or safety risk.

Expanded food-loss assistance for affected households. Food assistance should not stop with occasional hot meals. Families have lost hundreds of dollars in groceries because refrigerators and freezers have been without electricity for days. Indiana currently provides a process for SNAP recipients to seek replacement benefits after verified storm-related food loss, but the broader community also needs assistance.
Emergency financial assistance for unavoidable expenses caused by the outage, including reasonable costs for generators, gasoline, ice, temporary lodging, transportation, spoiled food, batteries, and other essential needs when legally permissible.

Clear and frequent public communication from NIPSCO, including realistic neighborhood-level restoration information whenever possible instead of leaving families uncertain about whether they should continue buying fuel, relocate, or make other emergency arrangements.

A coordinated City/County/State medical-needs registry and response system so emergency officials can identify residents whose lives may be endangered during extended power failures.
A full after-action review of the electrical infrastructure and emergency response once this crisis ends, including what failed, what infrastructure improvements are needed, whether emergency preparedness was adequate, and how Northwest Indiana can prevent another extended outage from producing the same humanitarian consequences.

FEMA Assistance Must Reach the People Who Need It
A federal emergency declaration for Indiana was approved following the August 11 disaster, allowing federal resources to supplement state and local response efforts. However, an emergency declaration does not automatically mean that every affected resident has been approved for full FEMA Individual Assistance. Residents are currently being directed to Indiana's State Disaster Relief Fund, Indiana 211, and other disaster resources while assessments continue.

We are asking local, state, and federal officials to continue pursuing every available level of disaster assistance so that relief reaches the actual households carrying the financial and medical burden of this disaster—not only government agencies and infrastructure.

Gary Residents Need More Than Patience
People understand that the August 11 storm caused extraordinary destruction.

They understand that rebuilding an electrical system after a major disaster takes time.

What residents should not have to accept is being left to figure out survival on their own while waiting.

A small generator requires fuel.

Fuel requires money.

Hotels require money.

Replacing an entire refrigerator of food requires money.

Driving repeatedly to find gasoline, ice, charging stations, food, oxygen, medicine, or a cool building requires transportation and money.

And some of our elderly and disabled residents cannot simply get into a vehicle and drive somewhere else.

Electricity is not a luxury when someone's oxygen, medication, mobility equipment, breathing machine, or other medical device depends on it.

No elderly resident should be sitting in a dangerous home wondering whether their medical equipment will stop working.

No parent should have to choose between buying more gasoline for a generator and buying food for their children.

No family should lose hundreds of dollars in groceries and simply be told to absorb the loss.

No medically fragile resident should have to wait until their condition becomes a 911 emergency before meaningful assistance becomes available.

We Are Asking Our Leaders to Treat This Like the Emergency It Is
Gary has already established storm-recovery resources, including food distribution, oxygen-cylinder filling assistance, damage reporting, and other support. Those efforts matter and should continue.

But after more than a week of widespread disruption, the response must match the severity and duration of this disaster.

We are asking NIPSCO, the City of Gary, Lake County, the State of Indiana, federal officials, emergency-management agencies, nonprofit partners, and utility regulators to work together immediately to provide comprehensive relief until every affected household has safe and dependable electrical service.

This petition is about life, health, dignity, accountability, and protecting our community.

Gary residents are not asking for special treatment.

We are asking for the basic resources necessary to safely survive a prolonged disaster.

Please sign this petition and share it throughout Gary, Northwest Indiana, and across the State of Indiana.

Gary needs more than promises.
Gary needs more than a meal.
Gary needs more than another update.
Gary needs POWER, RELIEF, RESOURCES, and a real emergency plan—NOW.

#GaryIndiana #GaryNeedsPower #NIPSCO #NorthwestIndiana #IndianaStormRecovery #DisasterRelief #ProtectOurSeniors #MedicalNeedsMatter #LakeCountyIndiana #GaryStrong