POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County chapter of the American Red Cross is making preparations for staff and volunteer deployments for the 2009 hurricane season.

The chapter is checking the availability and upcoming schedules for its disaster assistance team members as part of its national and regional pre-deployment staffing procedures.

In its last fiscal year, which ended June 30, nine Dutchess chapter staff and volunteers were deployed for a total of 161 days at disasters across the country. 

Teams responded to the Gulf region for Hurricanes Dolly, Ike, Gustav and Tropical Storm Hannah. They also responded to the flooding in the Central US in the late spring 2008 to help with National Red Cross response to that large scale disaster.

The northeast ice storm of December 2008 saw chapter members help Dutchess residents as well as others in the upstate region who were without power for an extended period of time.

Volunteers put in close to 1,000 hours assisting at shelters that had been set up to help the displace residents.