Indy neighborhoods adjust to power outage

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Thousands of people were still without power Tuesday. As IPL crews worked to fix the problem, some people expressed concerns about their food spoiling or their homes becoming too hot or humid.

Javier Escobar lives near 30th Street and Tibbs Avenue, where crews shut down some roads as they worked on downed power lines. He said a pine tree toppled over in front of his house around 2 a.m. and landed on some of the lines.

Outside his home, an IPL team cut the tree from lines around 11 a.m.

Inside, he said about $100 worth of food was going bad in his fridge.

“Sooner or later my boys are going to get hungry,” he said of his sons. “I have to go see what I’m going to have to do.”

His family of five lives just across from St. Michael’s Church. The neighborhood was full of downed power lines and nonfunctioning traffic lights. It’s the aftermath of what Escobar describes as the worst storm he ever saw.

“It’s getting kind of stuffy inside the house,” he said. “We opened a window. But you can feel the humidity.”

IPL said more than 300 people were working on restorations Tuesday, including some added help from Nashville, Tennessee.

Before power was restored in Delores Hinton’s west Indianapolis apartment complex, she said she went to the store to get some canned food and water.

“I just got the kids and we got out to get some air and stuff,” Hinton said.

Hinton said she’s never seen so many downed tree limbs around the neighborhood.

An IPL official said full restorations in the Indianapolis area might not be complete until the end of the week, but workers said they hoped to have more homes in the area restored Tuesday night.