A derecho hit Gary, Indiana on 11 August 2026, bringing straight-line winds of up to 99 mph and knocking out power to more than 20,000 NIPSCO customers, with thousands left without electricity for nearly two weeks. In this opinion piece, activist Corey Brooks argues that while the storm exposed genuine hardship in the struggling former steel city, some residents' claims that the prolonged outage was due to racism are misguided, and he instead highlights community and volunteer relief efforts as the real response to the crisis.

Fallen trees toppled power lines and snapped poles across Gary, a city whose population has fallen from over 80,000 in 2010 to roughly 67,289 in 2025. Without power, residents faced sweltering heat, spoiled food, stolen generators and disrupted medical equipment, while businesses shut down; NIPSCO says it has since restored power to 99% of affected customers, though some homes still await private repairs before reconnection. The author's organisation, Project H.O.O.D., along with churches and other nonprofits, delivered food and essentials to residents during the outage.