Some Kamloopsians headed to air conditioned hotel rooms as a way to beat the heat as temperatures remain well above the 40 C mark.
Kamloops Accommodation Association President Tyson Andrykew says he doesn’t have exact numbers just yet, but he’s notes he’s heard of cases where people have moved into hotels.
“Haven’t heard that it is as widespread just yet as it was in the Lower Mainland but I suspect as we head into some more hot days coming up, we’ll start seeing more of that locally,” he said on the NL Morning News.
“I think there’s certainly a few cases of that. With some recent outages as well, I suspect that number will increase as well.”
Kamloops RCMP say they have responded to six sudden deaths since last Friday when the heatwave began – double what it was during the same time last year.
“We just encourage people to check on your neighbours, check on your family members that are out there if you don’t hear from them,” he said. “Maybe make a phone call or knock on their doors, especially those that don’t have air conditioning in their homes just so that everybody is safe and we can all get through this.”
“Hopefully by next week, things will cool off and we’ll all be back to normal.”
Ingrid Jarrett, CEO of the B.C. Hotel Association, noted residents in parts of the Lower Mainland, Victoria, and the Okanagan flocked to air-conditioned hotel rooms so they could continue working and also get some sleep.
However, a lack of staff remains the biggest challenge for hotels, motels and resorts, as they slowly rebound from COVID-19 restrictions.
“So many hotels have to limit their occupancy and reservations that they can take because they simply don’t have enough people working in order to clean the rooms,” Jarrett told the Victoria Times Colonist.
Many restaurants are also in the same boat with staff shortages, according to BC Restaurant Association president, Ian Tostenson, now that indoor dining restrictions have been eased.
Kamloops set new heat records on three straight days this week – 44 C on Sunday, 45.8 C on Monday , d then 47.3 C on Tuesday.
“I’m going to be talking to some accommodators as we’ve got some digital meetings to do soon here anyway. I’ll probably have some more information on that the next time we chat,” Andrykew added.
Several cooling centres have been opened up including at Sandman Centre, at the Sk’elep School of Excellence gym, and at several homeless shelters in the city.