Line workers for the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. apologized for repair delays in the Beverly Shores area last week, and blasted their managers for what they felt was an inadequate response to the quick but powerful storm that pummeled north Porter and LaPorte counties.

On Thursday, three NIPSCO line workers claimed the Merrillville-based company had plenty of extra line workers in Northwest Indiana to call, but never did.

The workers, including David Chlebek, a top union official, said “dozens” of line workers were available while NIPSCO officials were claiming every worker was being utilized to turn power back on for the small Porter County town.

The resulting blackouts in the Beverly Shores area lasted for days.

Chlebek apologized on behalf of NIPSCO, saying the power outage should not have been as long.

“We’re sorry, we apologize,” said Chlebek, a line worker and vice president of United Steelworkers Local 12775.

NIPSCO spokesman Tom Cuddy said the union workers’ public charges were counterproductive, and “akin to them being Monday-morning quarterbacks.”

Cuddy said the Aug. 23 storm was massive, with 106 mile per hour winds.

Sixty poles were knocked down in Michigan City alone, Cuddy said, resulting in initial power failure for 23,000 customers in LaPorte and Porter counties.

By Sunday, hundreds were still without power in Beverly Shores.

Cuddy said NIPSCO’s priority is to restore power in major population areas first.

The storm’s damage was massive, both sides agreed, causing trees to fall even as of Thursday, more than a week later.

Cuddy said the repair work involved clearing trees, not just repairing lines.

Shawn Lindsey, a NIPSCO line worker and union official, said there were dozens of workers outside the Valparaiso local operating area available to help.

Lindsey said the Crown Point operating area has seven line workers alone who are working currently on wiring new units whose occupants have not moved in yet.

Chlebek said even the management command center was inadequate, pointing to pictures of a Dodge Durango and a manager using a road map. The union workers said line workers need detailed circuit maps, not geopolitical maps.

“Maps were finally sent up on Saturday,” said Lindsey.

Chlebek said the Lake County sheriff uses a large recreational vehicle with computers and plasma-screen televisions for its command center, but NIPSCO, owned by NiSource Inc., a Fortune 500 company, uses inadequate resources.

Cuddy said the company has command centers in southern Lake County and Hammond, and was not sure what good a mobile center would do.