American Red Cross volunteers and Xcel Energy crews are among the Minnesotans helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.
Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf Coast on Thursday with 150 mph winds. At least 14 people have died, eight of them from carbon monoxide poisoning.
As of Sunday night, more than 310,000 people in Louisiana were still without power, according to PowerOutage.US. It could take weeks to restore power.
"The destruction is immense and there's whole communities there without power. So this will be definitely a significant rebuild effort to get the lights back on," said Kelly Bloch, regional vice president of distribution operations for Xcel Energy.
The Minneapolis-based utility company has sent nearly 250 employees and contractors from Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin to help with relief efforts. Xcel Energy sent line workers along with support and safety staff to help assist Entergy Louisiana and Southwestern Electric Power Company.
Crews began work this weekend and Bloch said they'll be gone for about two weeks.
"They'll be working 16 hour days, responding, rebuilding lines. That's their day in, day out job. So they have to take extra precautions because of the destruction that's around them but they really know what they're doing," Bloch said.
RELATED: MN Red Cross volunteers say COVID will be a challenge during Hurricane Laura relief efforts
According to Bloch, the hard part was getting to Louisiana. One crew had issues trying to find fuel on Saturday.
"It's quite an event getting down here, just to get started," said Gregory Gray, an American Red Cross volunteer who lives in Bloomington.
Gray and his wife Renee flew into Baton Rouge and then planned on heading out to the hardest hit areas.
"I spent most of my adult life working in state government and I did that largely because I cared about the community and I think this is kind of an offshoot of that," Gray said.
While helping hurricane victims, there's the added challenge of COVID-19. Gray said they are social distancing, wearing masks both inside and outside, as well as getting their temperatures taken on a regular basis.
The couple plans on being in the area for the next two weeks. The American Red Cross Minnesota-Dakotas region has 35 trained relief workers supporting Hurricane Laura relief efforts in Louisiana and Texas. 26 of them are from Minnesota.
"Certainly the people of Minnesota oughta be proud of the fact that there's a significant contingent of volunteers who regularly come and help in these types of efforts," Gray said. "I know with all the things that are going on in Minnesota right now it's good for people to know that there are people who actually care and who are working tirelessly to help other folks."