Last week an east coast utility company sent out a call for mutual assistance in preparation for the expected power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy. Alliant Energy responded to that call with around 110 Alliant employees volunteering to help with the disaster.

80 of the volunteers are from Iowa, some coming from the southeast part of the state including Wapello. The crews left Sunday for the area they’ve been designated to assist, which according to Justin Foss with Alliant, is in between New York City and Albany.

Foss says the crews will be helping to restore power to residents, which as of yesterday afternoon the number of homes without power in that area was upwards of 80,000.