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Kim City tourism suffers.

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kimmy:
Normally at this time of year I'm complaining that everything is on fire.




Usually summer in Kim City is an ongoing drama of forest fires, smoke, and falling ash. This year, Mother Nature is changing things up, as nothing is on fire yet.  Instead we have flooding.  An abnormally wet spring, combined with record-breaking snowfall in the surrounding mountains, has caused Lost Lake to rise far above normal levels.   Our beaches, normally full of happy sunbathers and tourists by this time of year, are completely submerged. Lakeside parks are swamps. Barriers have been erected to keep the sand from being washed away.  All the boat launches are closed.  Sandbags are everywhere, as the high lake levels have backed up the creeks that meander through Kim City. In areas where the creeks have low banks, water has spilled over and flooded basements and buildings. Recent windstorms combined with the high water level has destroyed docks and piers and other lakeside structures. The lake is full of debris and floating hazards. Businesses that depend on lake tourism are suffering. Events that usually take place in lakefront parks are being relocated or cancelled. My own recreation has been impacted as normally I'm paddling hours every week in my kayak at this time of year. 

Usually drought seems a bigger worry than flooding. I'm not sure how this year's deluge fits with the climate change narrative, although the one constant in climate change seems to be that unusual conditions become common.   Fires, flooding, I can only imagine what happens next. A plague of locusts?

 -k

Michael Hardner:
Do you work in tourism though ?

kimmy:
Not directly, but in a community this size the economy is pretty interconnected.  Tourism is one of the major pillars of the local economy.  If it struggles, people will be laid off, other businesses will find fewer customers and feel a pinch as well.  Like throwing a rock into a pond, the ripples spread.

For the short term, all this destruction is actually good for my employer, as many people will no doubt be renovating or rebuilding. In the longer term, maybe people will second-guess projects they were planning.  Maybe people will wonder if this is going to be an annual thing, and maybe people will have second thoughts on whether this is the place they want to plan their future around.

 -k

kimmy:
As Lost Lake slowly recedes toward normal levels (though it's still 60 cm above the "full" mark) the hot dry weather Kim City is known for has finally arrived.

And with it, a familiar refrain...




 -k

kimmy:
Believe it or not, Kim City is among the fastest growing communities in Canada, relative to size at least.  I have been here for 15 years now, and I feel almost like an OG resident, the place has grown so much in that time. 

But of course, growth brings growing pains, and Kim City is not immune. We are beginning to see the kinds of problems that one normally sees in bigger cities.  People driving up and down Main Street all afternoon honking their horns, kids hanging out in the liquor store parking lot trying to bribe adults into buying booze for them, increasing reports of cow-tipping, and so on.

There has been increasing concern how to handle this. The RCMP and the Crown prosecutors are blaming each other. And mental health and addiction treatment are stretched thin. All of them say they need more resources.


 -k

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