Tens of thousands of people in northwest Indiana remained without power Wednesday, more than a week after deadly storms leveled trees and knocked down power lines across the region.Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the area’s sole utility, has said its crews have been working nonstop to fix the outages and has restored power to 285,000 customers since Aug. 11. But the utility said 85,000 customers were still without power as of Wednesday morning, including more than 22,000 in Gary, where residents have lined up at community centers for hot meals and chances to charge their phones.Jeremy Spurrier, a 51-year-old safety manager at a wastewater plant, said he is fortunate he has a generator to power the home he shares with his girlfriend and daughter in the town of Portage, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But the generator is expensive — it goes through about $75 worth of gas a day — and Spurrier said all of the food in his refrigerator has spoiled, forcing the family to rely on nonperishables like soup. Spurrier, who has diabetes, has had to drive to Illinois to get ice to keep his insulin usable.
“If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,” he said.Spurrier said a NIPSCO representative told him to expect to be without power for nearly another week — the utility was hoping to restore power to his home by Aug. 25.
