Westar Energy is helping get the lights back on for hurricane victims.

Thirty-four Westar employees have been working since Thursday in Labadieville, Louisiana. The town is located about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans. The group includes seven four-man line crews, two mechanics and four supervisors. They left last week in a convoy of 20 vehicles.

The group's leader Bill Heins told us by phone Tuesday, that area didn't see catastrophic damage, but is feeling Katrina's impact. He says many evacuees are making their way through the area, either headed somewhere else or staying with family there.

Heins says he's never seen anything like it in his more than 30 years doing utility work. He says what's impacted him most is the look on refugee’s faces that have nothing to go back to. He says they'll share their stories and look and you, and you don't have an answer for them.

Heins says people in the area have treated them very well and are appreciative for any return to normalcy. He says after one long day working to get power restored to a neighborhood, the residents insisted they stay to eat a traditional southern dinner they'd cooked up for the crews on propane-powered stoves.

When Westar finishes in that area, Louisiana energy company, Entergy, will give them another assignment. Heins says Entergy is dispatching crews to outer areas first, where they can make an immediate impact. They're working their way toward New Orleans, where the entire infrastructure must be rebuilt.

Westar says it will assist as long as it's needed. Fresh crews may be rotated in every couple weeks, so no one is away from home too long.

The mission is also a chance to repay Entergy. The company sent crews to Kansas to help Westar following a January ice storm.