Government experts are warning that landslides, rockfall and downed trees are likely in the Columbia River Gorge this fall and winter as the rains come. But one Gorge businesswoman worries that she can’t afford another natural disaster.
Kim Brigham and her family own a Native American fishing business and a fish market In Cascade Locks, Oregon. Because of the fires, she had to close her shop to customers for half of September.
Business is just starting to come back. But in this area scarred by wildfire, scientists are warning that fall and winter rains could bring rocks, trees and mud cascading onto the highway, which Brigham said would be another huge blow to her community.
In her massive walk in freezer, Brigham has way fewer vacuum-packed fish fillets than she’d normally have stockpiled.
“This will probably last me hopefully through December,” Brigham said. “And then I’ll have to start buying through Pacific Seafood or I won’t be able to offer anything. And as a fish market, to not have any fish is silly.”
