AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn now to Gary, Indiana, where thousands of residents recently spent two weeks without power following a storm that ripped through the majority-Black city. Indiana Governor Mike Braun and others have called for investigations into why it took the private utility company, Northern Indiana Public Service Company, NIPSCO, so long for power to be restored. NIPSCO is privately owned, and partially owned by Blackstone. The blackout impacted all aspects of life, from residents being trapped in apartments to gas stations running out of fuel, to grocery stores being forced to close during the blackout. Residents of Gary decried the company’s failure to restore power.

GARY RESIDENT: You’ve got to think about Gary is predominantly Black, and look how they’re treating us. It’s terrible out here, man. It’s terrible. And it shouldn’t even be this way in 2026, man. 2026, it’s still like this, and it’s terrible, man. And it’s terrible. I feel bad, to be honest with you, man.

AMY GOODMAN: Officials have estimated the storm might have resulted in up to $5 billion in damages in Gary and other Indiana communities. Gary is a majority-Black city, about 80%, which is home of what was once the world’s largest steel mill in the world. But deindustrialization has taken its toll on the city. In the '60s, the city's population reached over 175,000. Today, it stands at under 70,000. About a third of the population lives below the poverty line.

We go now to Gary, Indiana, where we’re joined by the city’s mayor, Eddie Melton.

Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the state of your city right now — as we reported over the last two weeks, tens of thousands of people without electricity — and all that that means, and where you’re standing right now?

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: Thank you for having me on the show.

As you can imagine, a city without power for over two weeks is still in recovery. We have about 95, 97% of the population that is back with power. Many of the folks that are without power is because they received personal damage to their homes, ripping off weatherheads and things of that nature. So, we’ve been raising the dollars before there was a commitment from the state and federal government, so we can help those individuals restore power. So, we’re still in the recovery phase, as we speak.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the role of the private energy company NIPSCO, for the country, for the world to understand what took place? Actually, you used to work for them. Is that right, Mayor Melton?

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: Yeah, absolutely, so I understand the process. So, I would tell you that for a storm that came through — they said it’s almost as a Category 2 hurricane — came through Northwest Indiana, swept through three counties: Lake County, Porter County and LaPorte County, portions of LaPorte County. It brought heavy wind and rain. That rain went to central Indiana, where there’s significant flooding that occurred there, as well, ripping trees up out of the ground, causing a lot of destruction to our grid system.

So, having worked there, I understand the process of restoration of power. I didn’t work on the operations side, but I dealt much with that aspect of it. And knowing mutual aid that comes from other communities, I was saddened to see that we didn’t receive that mutual aid as much as the size of Gary is. Gary is 52 square miles, so it takes a significant amount of labor and hands on deck to restore a lot of that system.

AMY GOODMAN: When the city, when the state, when the company announced its restoration, did it mention — was Gary even included in the schedule?

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: That was where the initial outcry from us started. When an energy company releases their estimated time of restoration, it typically lists out those communities in certain regional areas and pockets. But this was an abnormal storm, and I urged the utility company to break down the city separate from the other regional populations that they were identifying. When we did not see Gary listed in the beginning, it was a — it felt as if we were being left behind and overlooked. So, we pressed, and we called before the public, and we told them to come before the public to do a press conference to articulate what was the problem, how long it was going to take for restoration, and to start listing Gary separately from other cities, so we can have an accurate account and we can track it from a transparency perspective.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think it had something to do with Gary being more than 80% Black, a third of the population under the poverty line?

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: Well, that’s what I felt at that moment, when you look and you do not see your city listed on there. Now, granted, there were other cities that weren’t mentioned, but when your power is out at your home and you’re in your city, you’re looking for your city. So, to omit the city, it felt very overlooking and not the direct attention that it need in an emergency such as that.

AMY GOODMAN: Many climate studies have shown that climate chaos we’re experiencing all over this country, not to mention the world — we were just talking about Nepal — will disproportionately hurt underresourced and underserved communities. Can you talk about the efforts underway in Indiana to protect its citizens from future storms, and also the lawsuits that have already been brought, for example, against NIPSCO?

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: Yes. So, we put together a series of demands to the utility company. One of that is hardening the infrastructure. We had six storms last year, and this year we’ve had 14 already before the end of the year. And we’ve never seen wind this strong before. If we’re seeing winds close to 100 miles or over 100 miles an hour, they need to ensure that the utility grid system is going to sustain that type of wind. So, that’s going to be: What type of poles are going to be used? Are they going to be hardened with a different type of material instead of just the typical wood, wooden poles? Are they going to put cement at the base of these? Are they going to upgrade the circuitry, as well as the transformers?

All of this stuff has to take place for a city the size of Gary to endure more and severe storms. Right now we have received the federal declaration of a natural disaster for the state of Indiana, and the governor himself also provided some resources. And today, they’ll be — FEMA will be on the ground. I’ll be meeting with FEMA hands-on and the governor to ensure that the resources are deployed throughout the entire city.

AMY GOODMAN: Eddie Melton, I want to thank you for being with us, mayor of Gary, Indiana.

MAYOR EDDIE MELTON: Thank you.