NIPSCO is thanking customers affected by the weekend storm activity for their patience and understanding, as crews worked around the clock to quickly and safely restore electric service.

Friday’s damaging storms, which also impacted other states across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic, knocked out power to more than 40,000 homes and businesses across NIPSCO’s service area. Additional outside crews from neighboring states were quickly brought in to assist NIPSCO crews with the restoration efforts.

Nearly all of those customers were restored by Sunday, until another line of powerful storms quickly passed through the area that afternoon, causing another 10,000 customers to lose power—some for a second time in one weekend. The handful of remaining customers from Sunday’s storms had power by the end of Monday, NIPSCO said.

“While we are more fortunate than other parts of the country to have all of our customers back up and running, we know that it was a frustrating weekend for those customers who endured multiple days without power,” said Keith Wooldridge, senior vice president of field operations for NIPSCO. “The hard-working men and women of NIPSCO, from employees in the field to those answering customer calls, thank everyone for their patience.”

With a chance for potential storms forecasted in the week ahead, NIPSCO is closely monitoring the weather, and crews will be prepared to respond in the event of any power outages.

Customers can stay informed of outage news and updates from their mobile device by visiting www.nipsco.com and going to NIPSCO.com/outagecenter from any computer or by following NIPSCO at Twitter.com/NIPSCO

Storm Safety Helpful Reminders

Most important to your safety is to avoid downed power lines, damaged poles, or other hazardous situations. Every downed wire should be treated as though it is a live wire.

Once you are in a safe place, you can report the problem a few different ways:

•On your computer. Visit www.NIPSCO.com/OutageCenter and enter some basic information about your location.

•From your smart phone or other mobile device. Search NIPSCO and your device will be automatically directed to our mobile site where you will find a button on the main page to report an outage.

•Via phone. Call (800) 464-7726 and follow the automated prompts. You can ask to receive a call back when power has been restored.

Customers can also prepare for storms by following these tips:

•Monitor the weather and know what conditions are forecasted for your area.

•Check to see if shrubs or trees need trimming or if you have any weak limbs. Be particularly careful when working near power lines.

•Compile a storm preparedness kit, including essential medicines, non-perishable food items and water, flashlights, portable radios, extra batteries, and a manual can opener.

•If someone in your family requires life support equipment, make prior arrangements for a back-up power supply. This may mean having a back-up power supply such as a generator or going to a health care facility that has back-up power.

•Avoid opening the refrigerator or freezer. Food will stay frozen in a fully loaded freezer for 36 to 48 hours if the doors remain closed. If the freezer is half full, the food will generally keep 24 hours.

Find more storm safety tips and monitor the status of power restoration at www.NIPSCO.com/OutageCenter