Northeast Ohio Red Cross volunteers helping Irene victims

AKRON, Ohio - Twenty-two Red Cross disaster volunteers from northeast Ohio have been deployed to the east coast to help the victims of Hurricane Irene.

David Riegler, 74, of Copley Township, was dispatched to New Jersey.

In a telephone interview, Riegler said the damage was severe to a state that is not used to the destructions of a hurricane.

"We're seeing a lot of of flooding, a lot of trees down and a lot of power outages. Monday morning, there was upwards of 600,000 to 700,000 people without power," Riegler said.

Riegler has been dispatched to other hurricanes as a Red Cross volunteer, including Hurricane Ike in Texas and Hurricane Katrina that battered New Orleans.

Riegler said Katrina had more disasterous flooding, but Irene was more spread out.

"I'd say Katrina was worse than this, but some people say it isn't. They're very close," Riegler said.

Pam Williams, of Akron, is stationed in North Carolina as a Red Cross volunteer. She said the extent of Irene's wrath still isn't known.

"Right now, we still have 16 counties that are basically inaccessible to get into to do damage assessments," Williams said.

Williams said the Red Cross is serving 30,000 hot meals a day in North Carolina in shelters or delivered by mobile trucks.

"We have had, since Friday, probably 48,000 overnight stays in our shelters," Williams said.

Riegler and Williams are scheduled to stay on the east coast for three weeks.