Hoosiers helping out east during Sandy

Indiana is lending a helping hand to those in need along the Atlantic Coast.

Monday, 24-Hour News 8 found Hoosiers helping out in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Indiana Task Force One members also left Monday evening, planning to stage in Akron, Ohio.

That’s where they’ll wait for further direction.

“We are activated as a Type One Task Force,” said Tom Neal, with Indiana Task Force One. “This will be a unique situation; along the coastline we’ll have flooding, and more inland there could be blizzard conditions.”

The team has 80 people with them, semis full of necessary items, three boats, and four K9’s, who’ll help with rescue searches if needed.

Other Hoosiers are already stationed on the east coast, seeing the effects of this monster storm in person.

Frank Kominowski is a disaster relief volunteer with the American Red Cross. He’s from Martinsville. “As the day progressed hour by hour, it just got worse and worse. By tomorrow morning, who knows? This is really just coming in this afternoon,” he said.

Kominowski was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Monday night. Monday, they delivered hot meals to a shelter.

We also found construction crews from Vincennes, turning power back on in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

“It’s been fairly chilly, and pouring down rain.. windy,” said Ryan Hurst with Miller Construction. They’ve been working all day fixing power lines.

Crews from The Townsend Corporation, based near Muncie, Indiana, are also stationed throughout the east coast. Daniel Townsend is a Safety Manager for the company, and said he's stationed right now in Shelton, Connecticut. He said the conditions are rainy and windy, and businesses have closed and streets are restricted.

In Ocean City, Maryland, a crew is already working from Indiana's Department of Homeland Security. The Incident Management Assistance Team arrived on Sunday. “Right now, it’s about as bad as it’s going to get,” said Sgt. Trent Smith. “There's a pretty substantial amount of localized flooding.”

Indiana Task Force One is set to arrive in Akron, Ohio, early Tuesday morning.

From there, they’ll head wherever needed.