Hoosiers respond to hurricane relief effort - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Several Indiana groups are headed east to assist victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Indiana Task Force 1 mobilized Monday to go to the east coast and Tuesday were assigned to a search and rescue unit in Westbury, New York, on Long Island. More than 100 members of the task force have traveled east.

Nearly 500 employees from Indiana-based Townsend Corporation are heading to six east coast states to assist with power restoration. Crews will work in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia to help bring power back to customers there.

Duke Energy is sending 150 line workers, tree trimmers, damage assessors and other support personnel to West Virginia. Crews will leave from three locations - Clarksville, New Castle and New Paris, Ohio - Wednesday morning, en route to Charleston. West Virginia has seen major amounts of snow as the storm moved through the east.

The Red Cross is also offering support with workers and shelter. The organization says 11,000 people sought safety in 258 Red Cross shelters across 16 states, including Indiana, Monday night. A number of Hoosiers are among the 1,700 Red Cross disaster workers mobilized in the aftermath of the hurricane. They will report to locations in West Virginia and New York to assist with the recovery effort.

Superstorm Sandy resources