The newborn baby didn’t understand why he was sitting in the dark.

As power outages in Northwest Indiana dragged on for over a week, Alyssa Casalin said her two-month old boy grew increasingly restless. She struggled to see the baby when he cried at night, hoping her flashlight would turn on. Changing a diaper wasn’t easy. Neither was properly storing milk.

She drove around frequently during the day. It helped calm her son and allowed her to look for open stores to buy food. But she couldn’t be out too long because of long lines at gas stations.

“It was just a lot of screaming from him,” Casalin, 19, of Portage, said. “You got to keep your composure to be a mom, and you know keep (him) calm because he doesn’t know any better.”

Tens of thousands across northwest Indiana have also been left in the dark since last week’s severe storms tore down trees, power lines and property alike. Residents say they’re rationing gas and, at times, losing faith that the power will ever come back on.

As of Thursday morning, more than 63,000 Northern Indiana Public Service Company customers remain without power. This includes nearly 24,000 in Gary, a majority-Black city that’s been hit particularly hard.

And many may have to keep waiting for days. Power isn’t expected to be mostly restored in Gary and Portage until next Tuesday. Munster not until Monday, while Hammond and Highland are on Saturday.

Dyer and East Chicago, however, are on Thursday.

“These aren’t simple repairs,” said Melody Birmingham, an executive at NIPSCO’s parent company at a Wednesday news conference. “These are systems that are being rebuilt. These are lines that ordinarily take us, and systems that ordinarily take weeks or months that we are trying to accomplish in days and/or weeks.”

She acknowledged the frustration and impatience many residents may feel, and said crews are working as quickly as possible to restore power. NIPSCO has restored power to 306,000 customers since the start of the storm on Aug. 11.

Casalin said she was sleeping when the storm began and woke up when the sirens went off. At first she thought she was dreaming. She looked outside the window and saw a car tire lifting up from the winds. Her mom joked on FaceTime that the power would go out.

“I go turn the bathroom light on, and it cuts out,” Casalin said. “We just recently had a storm before that, where our power went out for like a day, but it came back on. But then it went from one day to two days, three days, all the way up to nine days.”

Indeed, there’s been a record-breaking number of tornados and repeated damaging thunderstorms this year.

Casalin’s power was luckily restored Wednesday night, an immense relief, she said. She finally got a full night of sleep and was able to take a shower. She hopes electricity will be restored quickly for her neighbors, comparing the situation to “zombieland.”

“It’s really sad. I really hope it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

According to the city’s website, Portage residents are encouraged to call Indiana 211 to report damage and see if they’re available for assistance through the State Disaster Relief Fund. The city can also help those without access to a phone or internet.

Other moms were struggling in Gary. Kelsey Taylor said she’s been at home with her four kids since the storm hit. Her youngest is just three months old. She breastfeeds her child and has had to rely on generators to charge her breast pump.

“We thought (the power) would be gone for this couple days,” Taylor, 32, said. “I was in the house for four days after the storm and when I finally got in the car and drove around, I was just like, Oh, yeah. We’re not getting power for a while.”

Indeed, the sounds of generators humming and chainsaws whirling filled the neighborhood Thursday afternoon. There were large piles of tree trunks, sticks and leaves on the streets.

Odis Leeny, 21, was outside his home cleaning up his yard. Leeny has generators, but said he rations them because of the price of gas. He’s also had to buy cases of water bottles for his family since he can’t use a well for water.

Mayor Eddie Melton said he wants to make it clear that “Gary has not been left behind.”

“We have support,” he said at Wednesday’s news conference. “We have had linemen working every single day throughout this entire storm.”

The city partnered with AT&T, waiving overage charges and providing unlimited talk, text and data for eligible customers. The company also provided residents with device charging lockers at Red Cross-supported shelters. Various churches also stepped up to distribute free food and supplies.

The 21st Century Charter School opened its doors Wednesday, while Gary Community School Corp. schools without power remain closed.

Birmingham said large uprooted trees along with other damage from 99 mph winds in Gary has made it challenging to restore service. There were utility poles and 44 transmission poles that required significant repairs. She said it has nothing to do with any sort of socio-economic divide.

“This is truly, truly a situation of where the storms hit,” she said. “We have areas that are probably affluent where we still have customers out as well.”

“We would not, we have not and should not ever prioritize how we respond based on color, based on socioeconomic status,” Birmingham added.

As a line worker contracted to repair storm damage, Chris Kellum has seen his fair share of downed trees and power lines. Kellum previously worked to restore power in Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, then spent two weeks doing the same in Florida after Hurricane Milton.

With all the storm damage he has seen, Kellum said it’s accurate to call the storm that ripped through Gary a land hurricane.

“Especially with the straight winds, which is always a huge problem, and sideways winds, and then the aftermath of tornadoes, it’s pretty catastrophic,” Kellum said.

Near 47th Avenue, crews from Hobbs Electric worked Thursday to put up 11 new wooden poles to run new power lines from to reestablish power from the main feed, Kellum said. This brings residents one step closer to having electricity once again.

(Carole Carlson and Maya Wilkins contributed.)

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