Gary mayor says 12 days is ‘too long’ for residents to go without power after storm downed trees on to power lines

The mayor of Gary, Indiana, has said it is “unacceptable” that thousands of residents in the city are still without power nearly two weeks after an 11 August storm known as a derecho brought 90 mph, straight-line winds, downing trees on to power lines.

“We’re at day 12, and 12 days is too long for families to be without power,” Eddie Melton, Gary’s mayor, said in a video address on Sunday, adding that he is continuing to pressure the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (Nipsco) to restore the city’s power before the end of Tuesday.

33,124 residents still in the dark as utility company says it is working to restore power in north-west of state

Thousands of residents of north-west Indiana on Saturday were headed for their 11th day without electric power after storms swept through the state, toppling trees and power lines, earlier in August.

The powerless conditions have led to food lines, closed businesses, dead phones, no schools, spoiled food, dirty clothes, dry gas pumps and a multitude of other deleterious effects on life without energy.

Four-year-old boy, three men and three women among fatalities since storms began on 11 August, officials say

Days of storms and flooding in Indiana left at least seven people dead as floodwaters peaked in Indianapolis’s White River – and rains were expected to ease in the state capital region and other parts of the state on Sunday.

A four-year-old boy, three men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began on 11 August, state homeland security department spokesperson Liz Woods said.

National Weather Service reports that more than 11in of rain fell over a two-day period in some areas

At least five people are dead after devastating floods that swept through Indiana this week, officials said, as storms continued to batter the state on Saturday and first responders used boats to rescue more people from rising waters in neighborhoods along the White River in Indianapolis.

The mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, and other state officials implored residents in areas at risk of flooding to heed any evacuation warnings at a news conference.

Indiana faced most outages at 267,000, about 8% of its customers, with severe thunderstorms and wind ahead

Power supply was cut on Thursday ⁠to about 540,000 homes and businesses across the US midwest as severe storms battered the region, data ⁠from PowerOutage.us showed.

Indiana ⁠was the ​hardest-hit state, with more than 267,000 outages, representing about 8% of its roughly 3.3 million customers, the data ⁠showed.