Where Will Your Family Live While Your Northwest Indiana Home Is Repaired?

The derecho that crossed Lake and Porter counties on August 11 knocked out power to about 313,000 NIPSCO customers, the largest outage event in the company's history. NIPSCO expects roughly 90 percent of customers restored by the night of August 18 and nearly all by August 21. Two tornadoes crossed the state line with it, and the National Weather Service has confirmed an EF-1 through Munster and an EF-2 into St. John.

Most households will get power back and move on. This page is for the families who won't, because a tree opened the roof, or Wednesday's rain got inside, or the basement flooded when the sump pump died. Some of you already know your house is unlivable. More of you will find out over the next two or three weeks, which is how wind events work: the damage happens in an afternoon, and the housing problem shows up on a delay.

Does insurance pay for a hotel if you only lost power?

Usually no, and you should hear that before you spend a week expecting a reimbursement that isn't coming.

The part of a homeowners policy that pays for temporary housing is called Additional Living Expense coverage, sometimes Loss of Use or Coverage D. It turns on one question: is your home unfit to live in because of covered damage to the property itself? A neighborhood outage is not damage to your dwelling, and standard policies exclude losses caused by power failure that starts off your premises.

There is one exception worth checking. If the service line or meter mast on your own property was torn off, the failure may count as originating on your premises. Ask your agent that exact question. Policies vary, so get the answer from your own policy, not from this page.

When wind damage becomes a housing problem

The roofs opened at midday Tuesday. More rain arrived that night, and by Wednesday flash flooding was hitting parts of the region. Any home that lost shingles or decking in the first round took water in the second, because there were not enough tarps or roofers in two counties to get ahead of it.

Water inside the envelope is what changes the category of a claim. Wet insulation, wet drywall, and wet wiring are not a patch job. In August heat, in a house with no power for air conditioning or dehumidifiers, remediation guidance generally puts mold growth at 24 to 72 hours after materials get wet. Mold is often the finding that moves a house from "damaged" to "uninhabitable" on an adjuster's report, and it can surface two weeks after the storm looked finished.

One hard truth about basements. Thousands of sump pumps lost power during heavy rain, and basements flooded across the region. On a standard homeowners policy, water that backs up through drains or overflows from a sump is excluded unless you bought a water backup endorsement. If you have the endorsement and the damage makes the home unlivable, ALE applies like any other covered loss. If you don't, call your agent anyway, but go in knowing the likely answer.

If your home took damage, report it to Indiana 211 at 866-211-9966 or through the IDHS damage reporting page. As of August 17, reports are being accepted for Lake, LaPorte, Newton, and Porter counties. Those reports help your county hit the thresholds that unlock state and federal assistance, so filing one helps your neighbors even if your own loss is insured.

Why the hotels fill up first

NIPSCO has brought more than 1,200 outside contractors into the region, and tree crews, roofers, catastrophe adjusters, and restoration techs are arriving behind them. Those workers book rooms in blocks, they book first, and their employers don't blink at the rate. They are competing for the same extended-stay rooms your insurance housing coordinator will be calling about in week two.

In every regional catastrophe, the workers win that competition. Displaced families placed late end up 30 or 40 minutes from their house, their kids' school, and their jobs, because that's where a room was.

What "like kind and quality" means for your family

The temporary housing industry runs on a standard called like, kind, and quality. Your carrier owes your family housing comparable to the home you lost. A single room with two queen beds is not comparable to a three-bedroom house, and you are allowed to say so.

For a family of four or five, comparable means two hotel rooms. At Northwest Indiana extended-stay rates running roughly $105 to $160 a night per room, two rooms cost $230 to $320 a night before anyone eats dinner, and every night of it draws down the same ALE limit that has to last your entire rebuild.

Pets tighten the squeeze. Published pet policies at extended-stay properties in this market run about $20 to $25 per pet per night, with two-pet limits and weight caps between 50 and 80 pounds. Over a 60-day displacement, two dogs can add close to $2,000 in fees. A dog over the cap can't check in at any price, and after this storm, "we'll figure out the dog later" is a sentence a lot of Lake County families are saying out loud.

The option nobody mentions: staying on your own property

Agile delivers a furnished travel trailer to your driveway or yard, levels it, connects utilities, and bills your insurance under your ALE coverage. Placements run $120 to $140 a night, tax included, for a unit with a kitchen, a private bedroom, and separate sleeping space for kids. One unit replaces two hotel rooms. Pets stay free, because it's your yard. Read what a rebuild-length stay on your own property looks like.

Delivery and setup are quoted per placement, since distance and utility conditions differ house to house. Our minimum term is 60 days, which matches what a roof-and-interior rebuild actually takes in a market where contractors are booked into winter.

The money matters, but proximity is the part families tell us about afterward. You are home when the adjuster shows up, when the roofer needs a decision, when the tree crew arrives. Your kids keep their bus stop. You can use the garage, the driveway, and whatever parts of the house remain safe. Nobody is watching your gutted home from a hotel parking lot 40 minutes away.

Read more about how ALE coverage pays for this and how an on-property placement works.

Is it legal to live in an RV on your property in Indiana?

Honest answer: not by default, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't read the ordinances.

Indiana leaves RV occupancy rules to each city, town, and county, and most residential zoning prohibits living in an RV on your lot under normal conditions. La Porte County's zoning code, for one example, caps RV occupancy at four consecutive days and allows the Building Commissioner to issue a temporary permit of up to 14 days for emergency residential use. Munster, St. John, Portage, Valparaiso, and the other incorporated towns each have their own code and their own building official.

After a disaster, local officials extend these limits, issue special permits, or pass emergency exceptions, but that happens placement by placement, in writing, through the local building or zoning office. We handle that conversation as part of every placement, and we don't deliver a unit until the town has said yes on paper. If your town says no, we tell you that too.

What the disaster declarations mean for your claim

Indiana moved fast, but the declaration that matters most for your household is not signed yet. Governor Braun declared a Statewide Disaster Emergency on August 13 and activated the Indiana National Guard. President Trump approved a federal Emergency Declaration on August 16, which funds emergency response, not household grants. The state is now finalizing a request for a Major Disaster Declaration with Individual Assistance, the one that puts housing and repair money directly in homeowners' and renters' hands, and FEMA typically reviews it within 7 to 10 days.

If your home is unlivable from covered wind or water damage, do not wait on any of this: your ALE coverage pays now, independent of any federal declaration. The same storm system tracked east into central Ohio. If you are in the Columbus area, see our Columbus storm housing guide.

What to do this week

Report your damage to Indiana 211 at 866-211-9966. Photograph everything before you clean up. Tarp what you can reach safely and keep the receipts, because emergency mitigation costs are generally reimbursable. Call your carrier, and ask two specific questions: what is my ALE limit, and do I have a water backup endorsement. If you're already out of your house, save every receipt for lodging, meals, and mileage, since ALE pays the difference between your normal costs and your displaced costs.

If your home is unlivable and you want to stay on your own property instead of hunting for two hotel rooms, call us at the number below. We'll tell you within one conversation whether your lot, your utilities, and your town make a placement workable.

Frequently asked questions