Two Weeks without Power in Gary

by Grace Tafolla, Resiliency Coordinator

I spent the first part of my summer collecting plants for the school gardens I take care of, and getting educated on the topics that threaten my community the most. At the start of the summer data centers were still a bit of a mystery to me, but while attending events from other nonprofits and experiencing the failure of our utility infrastructure firsthand, I have gained perspective on why they’re seriously threatening our community. Even before the storm, I made multiple great connections with local gardeners, who despite having no action in local politics, are very much affected, concerned, and interested in this topic.

Outcry over energy sharing concerns in our community has become especially strong after the August 11th storm in which over 300,000 NIPSCO energy customers lost power, myself included. The whole region quickly began flocking to any restaurant or business that had power, or a clean water source. The storm itself was terrifying. I was at work doing gardening for a friend’s place when it began. It seemed fine at first, but in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes the winds had become so aggressive I had to seek shelter. I saw a large chunk of a neighbor’s tree fly off and down the street. I knew I needed to try to get home the moment it became calm.

Once the wind didn’t seem so harsh, I hopped in my car and tried to leave Valparaiso. I knew of four different streets I could use to get home, but one after another, they all had fallen trees blocking the path. I finally came to one tree that wasn’t too big, and moved it myself in order to get home. That’s when I heard creaking, and as I drove past a street just before Shirley Heinz’ meadow brook property, a branch came down on my car, I tried to speed off but when I stopped to check my car it was dented, and scratched, but still drove. Once I was able to find my way to 37th ave, what was normally a 40 minute drive home became a 2hr commute of stopping and going at every second to get back to Gary.

There were downed trees everywhere I looked on the commute home, but when I was finally close, I drove over three downed power lines, and saw a tree blocking the entire entrance to my trailer park, followed by my realization that almost every tree in our park had fallen. It was like a scene out of a disaster movie, people coming out and asking if you were okay, debris everywhere, trees everywhere, slanted power poles, smashed cars, and trailers. When I pulled up to my trailer, I saw a large metal shed where my car would normally be parked. It took almost a week for it to be removed before some guy looking for scrap metal hauled it away.

Once I was home, I tried to reach out to my friends and family who lived nearby hoping they were okay. My friend Robin was trapped in their home by a tree. Nick had a tree on his roof. Lexi’s home was okay, but the road beside it was entirely covered by downed power poles. Daniel and Scottie’s backyards were covered in downed trees and debris. My parents and their neighbor’s driveways were both blocked by downed oaks. My fiancé’s mom and aunt were spared, but their neighbor’s roof was gravely damaged.

All you could hear for the next two weeks were saws and generators. There wasn’t a single night of sleep that wasn’t haunted by the hum of the generators, or the humidity and unforgiving heat. The water began smelling like sewage, and I cued up in every free food or water line possible. Lines for gas voucher aids were wrapped around several blocks. Multiple gas stations ran out of gas, and every day there were lines spilling out onto the street. Each time I couldn’t get aid was a time I’d have to buy food with money I didn’t technically have. After getting out of credit card debt, I was now stuck using a credit card to eat for two weeks. For two weeks we had no power. For two weeks we had sleepless nights of humid, sweaty torment. For two weeks we had to leave our home to seek out hot showers and a place to charge our phones. For two weeks my home was unlivable, but I am still expected to pay rent, and NIPSCO sent a fresh bill for $194.

Despite how long restoration took, the Hobart data center construction continued every day as if nothing happened, and as if no one else needed power. I am filled with grief and frustration. Now that we are a part of tornado alley, I am terrified that this will be a new normal every summer, especially for everyone who is too poor to leave this area. Our home, which we once thought of as a safe bubble, is now in the line of nature’s fire, and there is no escape.