Tens of thousands of residents across northwest Indiana are entering a second week without electricity after a deadly storm on August 11 caused a massive blackout that has left entire communities in the dark.
The severe weather toppled trees and destroyed power lines across the region, including in cities such as Gary, cutting off homes and businesses and leaving crews with widespread damage to repair.
For nine straight days, families have been in constant survival mode, throwing out spoiled groceries, lining up for hot meals, and sleeping on floors to try to beat the summer heat inside powerless homes.
Utility crews have been working around the clock to restore service, but officials have warned that some residents will not see their lights come back on until Tuesday, extending the ordeal well into a third week for the hardest-hit areas.
Resident Aja Bridges described the scramble to find basic necessities, saying she drove from gas station to gas station only to find that every one within a roughly 20-mile radius was closed, their doors locked to customers.
She said she eventually drove about an hour to find fuel, then waited two hours in line, describing tense scenes as people argued at the pumps while nearby stations shut down one after another for lack of gas.
Searching for somewhere safe to stay, Bridges said she booked hotel rooms up to an hour and a half away, only to arrive at properties that were themselves without power or half destroyed, with their websites never updated to show they had closed.