And you know we’re not ones to miss out on a trend. So here at the Red Cross we have a Top Five list of our own: The Top Five Disasters of 2008. 

Hurricane Dolly  

Remember her? The first official hurricane of the season. She sort of got overshadowed by her brothers Gustav and Ike, but she was a doozy. 

Thousands affected. Hundreds of Oregonians deployed to help. Man, hurricanes are haters.

The storm that brought us Hurricane Bear and this quote: “I smelled like Chili and my own sweat…”

I was deployed to help with this one. I remember flying over the area and seeing huge splotches of river spilled across the land like some mythical giant had knocked over several oversized bottles of ink. And boy were those some nasty spills.

I think it was during this one that someone said, “Wow, the damage is so bad it almost looks like a hurricane.” And that, of course, jinxed us for a year full of hurricanes.

On a more serious note, here are the numbers – and they’re big ones:

For just these five disasters, the Red Cross set up almost 900 shelters; served more than 16.5 million meals and snacks; distributed close to 275,000 comfort and clean-up kits, and deployed more than 27,000 Red Cross workers.  

And that’s just for the Top Five disasters – not the countless other tornadoes, storms, home fires, and wildfires. Man, what a year. 

It is, of course, worth noting that this extraordinarily disaster-filled year has depleted our Disaster Relief Fund. If you want to help us respond to next year’s Top Five feel free to click here.