Part I: Why Gary Was Unprepared for a Climate Disaster

When storms tore through Northwest Indiana on August 11, 2026, every neighborhood in Gary suffered severe, sustained damage. Thousands lost power, some for days, others for weeks. Electric substations failed, basements flooded, wi-fi disappeared, gasoline became scarce, and critical facilities, including municipal buildings, hospitals, and major utility systems, went offline. With homes and personal property severely damaged by fallen trees and flooded sewers, residents were forced into a reactive crisis mode, leaving many to ask: 

Who is responsible for directing us through the crisis? 

Where is ground zero for support services and resources?

A home in Gary, IN, nearly covered by fallen trees from the August 11, 2026 derecho.

Climate Ready Gary (2024)

This was not the first time Northwest Indiana experienced a catastrophic weather event. It is easily the fifth such documented disaster in under two decades, and the second in 2026. When searching for guidance on how to navigate recovery, we found Climate Ready Gary, a plan to “reduce climate-related risk to both people and nature”. Published in May 2024 by the City of Gary's Office of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs, its strategies and actions “are designed to protect the most vulnerable residents while building resilience across all people, businesses, and natural resources throughout the community.”

The plan identifies extreme heat, flooding, aging infrastructure, and inequities in health and transportation access as climate vulnerabilities. It organizes strategies into five themes: Healthy Residents, Robust Natural Systems, Sustainable Energy, Resilient Infrastructure, and Community Readiness. The plan also includes twenty (20) priority actions, such as expanding the tree canopy, improving stormwater systems, and educating residents about climate risks.

So, why wasn't Climate Ready Gary activated ahead of the August 11, 2026, storm? 

Climate Ready Gary is a vision without an operational structure for executing actions in an emergency. It lacks timelines, budgets, performance metrics, and accountabilities. It also does not establish activation triggers, process owners, or interagency coordination. It’s a set of ideas, not protocols, and this reality was manifested as delayed responses, unclear directives, and inconsistent communication in the aftermath of the storm.

🌳 The plan acknowledges threats to the urban tree canopy but does not require a full inventory or removal of hazard trees, especially those near homes and utility infrastructure. 

🔋 The plan identifies risks to infrastructure, but does not mandate backup power for critical facilities. The storm revealed how quickly essential services collapse without hardened facilities, mandated inspections, and penalties for non-compliance. 

💰 The plan also describes several strategies that could be deployed in an emergency, but mandated no budgets, timelines, or staffing requirements. Without funding, the strategies were only conceptual.

What a Ready Action Plan Must Include

Effective plans convert conceptual strategies into operational systems. This means a known incident command structure, emergency activation protocols with trigger thresholds, clearly defined process owners with known responsible parties, communication channels, decentralized resource staging locations, and emergency transport alternatives. 

As residents are always the first responders, their roles are scripted into formally approved plans.

Gary’s precinct committees offer the smallest unit of community intelligence, trust, and mobilization. As such, their proximity to residents makes them a logical choice to direct neighborhood-level disaster preparedness and response from a climate-resilient hub. Precinct committee heads should maintain voluntary, confidential, continuously updated registries of vulnerable residents, coordinate door-to-door wellness checks, and serve as decentralized distribution nodes for food, supplies, and critical services. They can also coordinate neighborhood-level response teams for key services. Because precincts are the connective tissue between residents and the City of Gary, they can ensure that mobility-challenged residents and those without personal transportation or resources are not left behind.

A non‑digital communication plan is a community lifeline when electricity and internet service fail. Therefore, any Ready Action Plan must include reliable ways to share critical information using tools that don’t depend on power, such as printed notices, door‑to‑door updates, battery‑powered radios, designated meeting points, and neighborhood messengers. This is another process that precinct organizations can own. When residents can’t charge their phones, access social media, or receive alerts, non‑digital systems ensure everyone receives timely updates on food distribution, medical support, evacuation routes, and safety risks while providing a means to communicate critical needs. It’s the difference between isolation and connection.

An effective Ready Action Plan must also include pre-event contracts and product and service agreements with equipment distributors, tree removal companies, electrical contractors, debris haulers, shelter operators, transportation providers, financial institutions, and residents activated to perform emergency municipal services. All agreements should prioritize Gary residents, contractors, and businesses and include guaranteed response times at pre‑negotiated rates. Service agreements and rates should be reviewed and updated annually.

Donations for community disaster relief can be expected. Therefore, the Ready Action Plan must include protocols to ensure that resources are appropriately collected, accounted for, and swiftly distributed to affected residents and businesses without unnecessary friction. Guidelines and priorities must be documented and clearly communicated. 

Distribution plans should reflect the values of fairness, transparency, dignity, and community care. This means protocols prioritize life, health, and safety; ensure distributed access to food, water, and supplies; provide for door-to-door wellness checks; and protect against long-term displacement. Plans should also address owner‑occupied homes facing catastrophic repair costs that may exceed insurance coverage and disaster recovery reimbursements. Without appropriate support, vulnerable homeowners may feel compelled to abandon their properties or sell at far less than value, accelerating neighborhood decline.

Lastly, the Gary City Council should pass ordinances that require hardened infrastructure for city services, allocate resources for preparedness, budget for future emergencies, and oversee utility accountability requirements, compliance, and reporting. 

These recommendations are only some of what a comprehensive, Ready Action Plan should include. It is a starting point for understanding what is necessary to manage a city through a crisis effectively.

Before the Next Climate Emergency

Clearly, actionable plans, preparedness, and operational systems have neither been built nor funded. However, to be more responsive to residents in future crises, serious consideration must be given to building the operational backbone that translates concepts into protocols and actions attuned to residents' needs and limitations.  

This is also the time when predators turn community hardship into personal profit by exploiting the chaos, fear, and desperation residents are feeling. They are knocking on doors, posing as legitimate contractors, selling unlicensed services at unreasonable prices, and engaging in price gouging. They are also on social media, offering to bill insurance companies directly for services they have not even received approval to perform.

Residents should also be aware of scammers posing as relief agencies to steal identities, contractors demanding upfront payment for services they don’t intend to deliver, and predatory lenders offering “emergency loans” that trap homeowners in high‑interest debt. We also can't leave out insurance companies that will deny coverage where they can, and speculators who will pressure homeowners to sell damaged properties for far below their value. 

Homeowners need access to information, trusted advocates, and protection, because we are not safe.

Part II of this series will examine the missed opportunities that could have funded these and other climate mitigation initiatives.