The American Midwest has unfortunately gone through several terrible weather events in the past few weeks that show no end in sight. In areas like Gary, Indiana, homeowners and businesses haven’t seen power in over a week.
This came after a sudden and unexpected violent inland hurricane, formally called a derecho, occurred on August 11, resulting in winds over 100 mph hitting through northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. Additionally, 8 tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service Chicago office. Local areas suffered widespread wind damage, and flooding left tens of thousands without power.
Gary, Indiana, was among the hardest hit areas, and with a community that has already struggled with decades of urban decay, this power outage has only made things worse. Thousands of residents are without access to working gas pumps and other utilities that come with electricity. Additionally, desperation has led to a spike in crimes like home invasions, made easier by the cover of darkness from the blackouts.
Given how widespread the impact of these storms has been, many would think there would be a widespread response from the federal government or even widespread coverage. Unfortunately, for many, it was only recently that people outside the hit regions even heard about this occurring.
Unsurprisingly, there could be a variety of factors causing this, from highly filtered content algorithms online to the unfortunate bias within the American news cycle, which puts more focus and eyes on the loudest and most polarizing political topics to keep viewers engaged. That said, with how predominantly black the population of areas like Gary, Indiana is, as well as its unfortunate reputation, that could also influence the lack of coverage.
Oftentimes, areas within the Midwest are forgotten about, left to rot, forgotten, and alone when people still call these places home. It’s seen with cities like Detroit, which have had a terrible reputation over the years, but have recently made a slow and steady comeback. These disenfranchised areas deserve to be helped, not only because of their historical significance, but because no area within the United States should be dealing with deplorable conditions.
