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INDIANAPOLIS – More than 4,000 Indianapolis Power and Light customers remain in the dark Monday morning as IPL scrambles to fix outages caused by Saturday’s high winds.

IPL was reporting around 4,400 outages at 7:45 a.m. Monday.

Duke Energy has restored power to most of its Indiana customers, with fewer than 800 outages reported at 8 a.m. Monday. Most of those outages are in Tippecanoe County, according to Duke.

Saturday’s strong winds caused damage throughout the city and left numerous people without power. 

“We heard a couple pops, a crack and then a whole tree came down,” said Joseph Swango.  

With debris and dust still in his hair, Swango was still shaking from shock after winds knocked a tree onto his house on Caroline Avenue.

Swango’s head and hands were bloody and bruised after parts of his home fell on him.

“I’m still in shock, honey!” said Swango to WISH TV. “I knew the tree was weak over there, but I was hoping it would go the other way. It was really scary.”   

A north side mother said her baby almost died when the wind snapped a tree like a twig, causing it to fall on her house, and dry wall to land on her child.

Meanwhile, a normally busy Saturday night in Broad Ripple was at a standstill.

“We were just trying to eat dinner and then the power went out,” said Jack Peterson, who lives in Indianapolis. “So we can’t have dinner here. We’re going to go to a fast food joint now.”

Businesses like Union Jack Pub were forced to close up shop, with employees using flashlights to put food on ice.

“All of broad ripple is a service industry and everybody’s losing out on a lot of money,” said Union Jack Pub Assistant General Manager, Perry Wright.

Across Indianapolis, intersections were left without power, as Hoosiers braving the elements did their best not to get swept up by the winds.

With the damage already done, cleanup efforts already underway as Hoosiers wait for the lights to come back on. 

“I don’t know if it’s the second coming or what’s going on, but it’s Indiana weather,” said Wright. “If you don’t like it, wait a minute, and it will change. We just hope and pray that we get power back on soon.”

A spokesperson for IPL said it was one of the “most significant wind events the city has seen in 10 years.”

You can see a live outage map for Indianapolis Power and Light here. 

You can also see the Duke Energy’s live outage map right here.  

 

 

(Photo Credit: Getty Images. Spencer Platt/ Staff.)