Thirty linemen and six managers, safety consultants and fleet mechanics along with equipment and trucks headed toward East on Wednesday morning to help rebuild electricity distribution systems destroyed recently.

Northern States Power Minnesota president and CEO said expressed concern over the devastation caused by Sandy.

"We know how serious, even dangerous, it is to be without power, particularly over many hours and days," Poferl said.

"We are fortunate that we’re in a position to release some of our skilled personnel to help, while still maintaining adequate staff to quickly respond to any potential outages affecting our own customers."

The Minnesota crews, along with eight linemen from NSP-Wisconsin, were travelling to West Virginia, where they will help restore power to customers of American Electric Power.

In addition, Xcel Energy crews are being deployed to assist on the East Coast from its Public Service Co. of Colorado and Southwestern Public Service Co.