After 20 years without tornado sirens, the City of Gary will soon have 10

"So, the question that I'm asking my colleagues is, are we prepared for climate change?"

The Aug. 11 storms left many Hoosiers in the dark for more than two weeks and others underwater as homes flooded. In the days following the disaster, Gary Mayor Eddie Melton had to face a tough reality — the deadly derecho exposed the City's vulnerabilities.

"We're going to have somebody on the ground in this next budget cycle that the council partnered with us to fund that full-time position," said Melton.

That position is an emergency management manager. Historically, that was a part-time position held by the deputy fire chief. After more than 20 years, Gary is getting new tornado sirens.

"They're in preparation of deploying ten new sirens throughout the entire city across the 52 square miles."

Ensuring Hoosiers are aware and prepared, even if they don't have the technology at their fingertips.

"We know that there's a brighter tomorrow, it's just a little gloomy out today."

Paul H. Flowers, Jr. went from feeling powerless to powering through the storm. Three months later, his family is back in their house, with the lights on and a full fridge. Though, he is left with new lessons.

"It makes sense to be prepared because if we realize that over the last decade or so that there’s not been work done to the level that it could’ve been done, well, unless there’s some drastic change, the next decade is going to look pretty similar," said Flowers.

Dominique Mack went from waiting in this limbo status in early September to having a weight lifted off her shoulders, sharing FEMA did end up coming through after all, but not everyone got the help for which they were hoping.

"Mama has to go, because my heart is broken."

After 25 years, Lisa Bobbitt is leaving Gary to live with her daughter in Arizona — something she told us she would do back in September.

Lisa has a defibrillator implant and says her health is declining. After struggling for weeks to get garbage and debris removed from her backyard, she is done.

“Every day, hard-working people... they let them down. They did and I was one of them. They let us down; the city let us down, the State let us down, the government let us down. Yeah, they did when we needed them. We paid our taxes. We did everything that they require of us to be a citizen at the end; they dropped the ball. Yeah... They dropped the ball," shared Bobbitt.

Packed boxes now fill her living room.

Though she is disappointed in officials for what she describes as a complete lack of help, she says many other people did help. For starters, her neighbors. Bobbitt, Flowers and Mayor Melton all talked about the way the community came together. Everyone from the neighbors on Fayette Street sharing food to the entire City hosting events and providing resources.

Bobbitt continued to thank the Evans family — as in Dana Evans; the 2x WNBA Champion. Evans grew up in Gary and is now a guard for the Las Vegas Aces. Her parents continue to check on Lisa Bobbitt.

So, is Gary back to normal?

"That's a tough question, right?" wondered Melton.

Yes. It is.

But as Lisa always says, "it could've been worse. It could've been much worse."

Gary's emergency preparedness upgrades after August 11

During an interview with Mayor Eddie Melton, he shared a number of emergency preparedness updates following the storms.

1. The city will have a full-time emergency management manager. Historically, it was a part-time position held by the deputy fire chief.

"We're going to have somebody on the ground in this next budget cycle that the council partnered with us to fund that full-time position,"

1. According to Melton, Gary has not had tornado sirens in over 20 years. The city now has new ones.

"Probably two weeks before this storm, we had just ordered those sirens. So, they are in now. They're in preparation of deploying 10 new sirens throughout the entire city across the 52 square miles. I want to make sure that even if you don't have the technology, you'll still be able to be prepared and aware if there are any significant weather events like we endured August 11."

'I'm not sure what that maintenance and what that testing schedule is going to be. I'll leave that up to the fire chief and the emergency manager that we're hiring to make that determination, but whatever the national best practice is, I'm sure we're going to adopt that."

1. The city is now able to reach residents through push notifications/Smart911.

"We're installing the technology of the E-911 systems as a push application that allows folks to receive information through their cell phones on any type of emergency, water boils, power outages. We can talk directly to individuals through their push notifications on their phones."

Two decades without tornado sirens and Governor Braun's response

According to Mayor Melton, Gary has not had tornado sirens in over 20 years.

According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Gary has had 111 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including six strong to violent EF3 or greater tornadoes. The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Gary was an EF0 on March 19, 2025.

While Gary did not get hit by a tornado in August, the city did face 100+ mile an hour straight line winds knocking out power for more than two weeks. ABC57 spoke with Governor Baun to learn why this city hasn't had sirens in two decades.

"Tornado sirens where they're not present, that should be low-hanging fruit that you can fix. It's a combination of state and local officials attending to that. We should get all that stuff done," said Braun.

New tornado sirens were purchased two weeks before the storm and are being strategically placed throughout the city.

NIPSCO class action lawsuit

17 people filed the class action suit less than a week after the storms. Their claim is that they trusted NIPSCO to adequately perform vegetation management in and around its power lines and say they suffered personal injury or financial harm due to NIPSCO's alleged failure to maintain the vegetation.

Kenneth Allen of Allen Law Group, LLC. is taking on the class action suit and shared where they're at now.

"Typically, the approach they take in important cases is to move them into federal court where they perceive form as friendlier to big business. We're currently battling to have the case returned to state court where we filed it because NIPSCO did remove it to federal court."

He continued, "the next phase of this litigation is what's called discovery. That's where both sides exchange evidence and the testimony of witnesses that they expect to call. Again, we're expecting that NIPSCO will take the position that the evidence should be kept under seal or confidential and not in the public record. We believe that it is appropriate that all this information be accessible by the public because after all, the rate payers, the public has paid NIPSCO for all this evidence."

GARY, Ind. — Three months after a deadly derecho hit Northwest Indiana, ABC57 News is back in Gary following up with the real people impacted by the Aug. 11 storms and looking at the real changes being made in the city.

"So, the question that I'm asking my colleagues is, are we prepared for climate change?"

The Aug. 11 storms left many Hoosiers in the dark for more than two weeks and others underwater as homes flooded.  In the days following the disaster, Gary Mayor, Eddie Melton had to face a tough reality — the deadly derecho exposed the City's vulnerabilities.

"We're going to have somebody on the ground in this next budget cycle that the council partnered with us to fund that full-time position," said Melton.

That position is an emergency management manager. Historically, that was a part-time position held by the deputy fire chief. After more than 20 years, Gary is getting new tornado sirens.

"They're in preparation of deploying ten new sirens throughout the entire city across the 52 square miles."

Ensuring Hoosiers are aware and prepared, even if they don't have the technology at their fingertips.

"We know that there's a brighter tomorrow, it's just a little gloomy out today."

Paul H. Flowers, Jr. went from feeling powerless to powering through the storm. Three months later, his family is back in their house, with the lights on and a full fridge. Though, he's left with new lessons.

"It makes sense to be prepared because if we realize that over the last decade or so that there’s not been work done to the level that it could’ve been done, well, unless there’s some drastic change, the next decade is going to look pretty similar," said Flowers.

Dominique Mack went from waiting in this limbo status in early September to having a weight lifted off her shoulders, sharing FEMA did end up coming through after all, but not everyone got the help they were hoping for.

"Mama has to go, because my heart is broken."

After 25 years, Lisa Bobbitt is leaving Gary to live with her daughter in Arizona — something she told us she would do back in September.

Lisa has a defibrillator implant and says her health is declining. After struggling for weeks to get garbage and debris removed from her backyard, she's done.

“Every day, hard-working people... they let them down.  They did and I was one of them. They let us down; the city let us down, the State let us down, the government let us down. Yeah, they did when we needed them. We paid our taxes. We did everything that they require of us to be a citizen at the end; they dropped the ball. Yeah... They dropped the ball," shared Bobbitt.

Packed boxes now fill her living room.

Though she is disappointed in officials for what she describes as a complete lack of help, she says many other people did help. For starters, her neighbors. Bobbitt, Flowers and Mayor Melton all talked about the way the community came together. Everyone from the neighbors on Fayette Street sharing food to the entire City hosting events and providing resources.

Bobbitt continued to thank the Evans family — as in Dana Evans; the 2x WNBA Champion. Evans grew up in Gary and is now a guard for the Las Vegas Aces. Her parents continue to check on Lisa Bobbitt.

So, is Gary back to normal?

"That's a tough question, right?" wondered Melton

Yes. It is.

But as Lisa always says, "it could've been worse. It could've been much worse."

Gary's emergency preparedness upgrades after August 11

During an interview with Mayor Eddie Melton, he shared a number of emergency preparedness updates following the storms.

• The city will have a full-time emergency management manager. Historically, it was a part-time position held by the deputy fire chief.

"We're going to have somebody on the ground in this next budget cycle that the council partnered with us to fund that full-time position,"

• According to Melton, Gary hasn't had tornado sirens in over 20 years. The city now has new ones.

"Probably two weeks before this storm, we had just ordered those sirens. So, they are in now. They're in preparation of deploying 10 new sirens throughout the entire city across the 52 square miles. I want to make sure that even if you don't have the technology, you'll still be able to be prepared and aware if there are any significant weather events like we endured August 11."

'I'm not sure what that maintenance and what that testing schedule is going to be. I'll leave that up to the fire chief and the emergency manager that we're hiring to make that determination, but whatever the national best practice is, I'm sure we're going to adopt that."

•   The city is now able to reach residents through push notifications/Smart911

"We're installing the technology of the E-911 systems as a push application that allows folks to receive information through their cell phones on any type of emergency, water boils, power outages. We can talk directly to individuals through their push notifications on their phones."

Two decades without tornado sirens and Governor Braun's response

According to Mayor Melton, Gary hasn't had tornado sirens in over 20 years.

According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Gary has had 111 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including six strong to violent EF3 or greater tornadoes. The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Gary was an EF0 on March 19, 2025.

While Gary didn't get hit by a tornado in August, the city did face 100+ mile an hour straight line winds knocking out power for more than two weeks. ABC57 spoke with Governor Baun to learn why this city hasn't had sirens in two decades.

"Tornado sirens where they're not present, that should be low-hanging fruit that you can fix. It's probably a combination of state and local officials attending to that. We should get all that stuff done," said Braun.

New tornado sirens were purchased two weeks before the storm and are being strategically placed throughout the city.

NIPSCO class action lawsuit

17 people filed the class action suit less than a week after the storms. Their claim is that they trusted NIPSCO to adequately perform vegetation management in and around its power lines and say they suffered personal injury or financial harm due to NIPSCO's alleged failure to maintain the vegetation.

Kenneth Allen of Allen Law Group, LLC. is taking on the class action suit and shared where they're at now.

"Typically, the approach they take in important cases is to move them into federal court where they perceive form as friendlier to big business. We're currently battling to have the case returned to state court where we filed it because NIPSCO did remove it to federal court."

He continued, "the next phase of this litigation is what's called discovery. That's where both sides exchange evidence and the testimony of witnesses that they expect to call. Again, we're expecting that NIPSCO will take the position that the evidence should be kept under seal or confidential and not in the public record. We believe that it is appropriate that all this information be accessible by the public because after all, the rate payers, the public has paid NIPSCO for all this evidence."