Helping after Hurricane Sandy: Local volunteers deployed

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM)-The American Red Cross is sending up to 40 local volunteers to the East Coast to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The disaster volunteers will be in charge of setting up shelters and feeding storm victims. Roy Powers and Joan Cunningham are among those being deployed. Both of them started volunteering with the American Red Cross in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit.

"[It was] intense, very intense," said Powers. "[There was a lot of devastation and a lot of need."

"[Hurricane Sandy] could very well be on that scale. This is a very huge storm, so we're anticipating it to be quite devastating," said Cunningham.

Some volunteers left Saturday. Others will leave Sunday morning. Their deployment is expected to last about three weeks.