Photo via Pixabay
Construction workers. Photo via Pixabay

A 10-person team is leaving San Diego this morning for New Jersey, where they will help repair homes still damaged from Superstorm Sandy nearly three and a half years ago.

According to San Diego-based International Relief Teams , thousands of houses — many of the working poor or elderly — remain too damaged for their residents to return.

IRT volunteer and board member Chris Read will lead the group, which will divide in half when they arrive and work for one week. His crew includes nine San Diego County residents and one from Los Angeles.

Superstorm Sandy struck the eastern seaboard in late October 2012, killing 72 people in the U.S. and 147 overall.

The IRT estimates that strong winds and surging tides damaged 250,000 homes. Damage was estimated at $50 billion.

— City News Service