MUNSTER, Ind. — Guardsmen are on the ground in northwest Indiana as cleanup efforts continue following this week's destructive storms.

The National Guard deployed to the northwest region of the state on Thursday morning after a round of storms carved a path of damage in several communities.

Now that guardsmen are on the ground, the mission is simple, but there is a lot of work to be done.

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"So really we're trying to get utility access and then access in for people's driveways, public roadways, clearing all that right away," Indiana National Guard Captain Jordan Baker said.

As cleanup efforts continue, thousands are still in the dark, and it could be days before the lights are back on.

According to the NIPSCO outage map, more than 180,000 customers are still without power, but crews are working around the clock to restore service.

"We know many customers have now been without power for several days, and we understand the hardship, frustration and disruption this has created for families, businesses and communities across northern Indiana. We know customers are eager for information, and we want you to know that every available resource is focused on restoring power safely and as quickly as possible," A NIPSCO spokesperson said in a news release shared Friday morning.

NIPSCO officials said this week's storms knocked out power for more than 60% of its customers, making this one of the most significant outage events in company history.

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Outages reached their peak following Thursday's storms, when NIPSCO said approximately 317,000 customers were without power.

Despite the historic impact, crews have made significant progress; in the last 24 hours alone, more than 63,000 customers have had service restored.

In total, more than 127,000 customers have had power restored since the outages began Tuesday.

NIPSCO said it expects to restore power to approximately 90% of impacted customers by Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 11:59 p.m. and complete restoration for 100% of customers by Friday, Aug. 21 at 11:59 p.m.

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