When a powerful storm swept through Gary, Indiana, last month, downing trees and snapping power lines, the city was plunged into darkness. It took the better part of a month for some of the city’s lights to flicker back on. But the crisis isn’t over for some.
Without electricity for 17 days, some residents had to throw away spoiled food. Others learned their homes needed hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of dollars in repairs before power could be restored.
To Rev. Nicole Patrice Guns, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Gary, the derecho illustrated the stark disparity between her working-class city of 60,000 and nearby communities.
“You go further into the state, and power was restored,” Guns says. “But then you go to Gary, and it’s dark. It’s dark.”
As residents waited for help, Black churches in Gary and congregations across the country stepped into the gap. They donated money, food and supplies, reviving the Black church’s historic role as both sanctuary and first responder.
“Jesus preached, and he taught, and he healed people, and he fed people,” Guns says. “The Black church has been on the front lines in Gary.”
‘It was pitch black’
Still, Guns notes that Gary’s full recovery cannot be addressed by simply flipping a switch. Decades of disinvestment, job loss and blight have hamstrung the city.
“I see the resilience in the midst of hurt and devastation and poverty,” Guns says. “People love the city of Gary, and they’re not willing to just go down without a fight.”
On Aug. 11, the derecho — a fast-moving, widespread line of severe thunderstorms that produces powerful straight-line winds — ripped across northern Indiana. The National Weather Service recorded a 99 mph wind gust.
Guns described driving after the storm: streetlights burned in Chicago on the Illinois side of the interstate, but darkness swallowed the highway in Gary just over the Indiana state line.
“It was pitch black,” she says. “This busy interstate with semi-trucks — I’ve never seen so many semi-trucks going through — and it’s dark.”
Nearly 38,300 Gary customers lost electricity. More than half were still waiting for service 10 days after the storm. Nevertheless, the massive storm and lingering blackout in a Black Midwestern city received little national attention.
Gary’s historic legacy
A former steel town, Gary drew Black Southerners for mill jobs during the Great Migration and became a center of Black culture and political power. It’s the hometown of Michael Jackson and hosted the 1972 National Black Political Convention.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton called it “unacceptable” that thousands of families remained without electricity nearly two weeks after the derecho. Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, ordered an investigation into Northern Indiana Public Service Co. to determine whether it had been adequately prepared.
Trauma hidden in the dark
Guns said the delay mattered. Elderly residents sat in dark homes, while families with critically ill loved ones struggled to preserve medicine and keep medical equipment functioning.
Before aid trucks and news cameras arrived, Guns says, restaurants fired up outdoor barbecue grills, cooked food before it spoiled and gave it away. Neighbors helped neighbors haul away fallen trees. Churches handed out food, water, toiletries and other necessities.
“‘If I have it, then you have it,’” Guns said, describing the spirit of mutual aid after the storm. “Before the government came in to do anything, everyone just helped each other.”
Guns’ congregation, founded in 1908 and recognized as Gary’s oldest Black church, became one of the community’s relief centers. Help also arrived from beyond Gary.
Outpouring of support
The National Baptist Convention USA Inc. sent workers to assist with tree removal and arranged for a tractor-trailer filled with relief supplies to be delivered to First Baptist.
Pastors across the country also reached out. World Vision partnered with First Baptist for a disaster relief giveaway that served more than 300 people.
COGIC Charities, the benevolent arm of the Church of God in Christ, announced a $50,000 emergency relief contribution to its Indiana jurisdictions to assist families and congregations affected by the storms.
“To me, that means just as much as the gifts,” Guns says of the support. “That’s who we are.”
Guns also rejected narratives that reduce Gary to crime, poverty and dysfunction.
“The people of Gary are kind people,” she says. “Everybody in Gary is not violent.”
“Gary’s a great city,” she said. “And I believe that Gary’s going to live again.”