Valley company SERVPRO helps with Sandy clean-up

CHANDLER, AZ - Eight people from SERVPRO in Chandler hit the road Tuesday afternoon bound for lower Manhattan and New Jersey.

They'll assist in the clean-up of the damage from Hurricane Sandy.

SERVPRO owner Tony Oliverio tells ABC15 his family will have to make do without him for the next month.

Oliverio and his team from plan to spend at least the next four weeks helping the East Coast dry out following the storm.

"We've been out to flooding before but not a hurricane," said Oliverio. "This is the biggest thing that's ever happened in history, at least that's what people there are telling us."

Oliverio is one of eight SERVPRO employees who serve on the Disaster Recovery Team.

They got the call Monday asking them to make the 2,400-mile drive from the Valley.

"We have a huge storm team," said Oliverio. "There are 1,500 franchises across the country. We're headed there to help them out and take care of the storm victims."

Tuesday morning, the team loaded up several trucks full of drying machines, fans and humidifiers.

They know those items will come in handy in an area hit hard by massive flooding.

"It'll be a one day at a time kind of thing," said SERVPRO employee Jeff Kish. "We'll do what we can to help people out."

Kish won't see his three kids again until after Thanksgiving.

He hopes they'll have the job finished in New York and New Jersey before Christmas.

"(It's) a long time to be gone, especially over the holidays," said Kish. "But that's the business we're in. We love helping people and getting things put back where they should be."

The SERVPRO team expects to arrive in lower Manhattan by Thursday night.