Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to visit British Columbia Friday, as the province continues to clean up after devastating floods and landslides triggered by a powerful atmospheric river.
Trudeau is slated to visit Victoria and Abbotsford, the hard-hit Fraser Valley community which remains partially underwater and at risk of more flooding as a new system of three storms rolls in.
The prime minister is expected to tour the flood zone and meet with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun, Sumas First Nation Chief Dalton Silver, Matsqui First Nation Chief Alice McKay, members of the Canadian Armed Forces, first responders and volunteers.
Trudeau will later meet with Premier John Horgan in Victoria and hold a 5:30 p.m. media availability.
On Thursday, B.C. opened a key stretch of the Trans-Canada highway through Abbotsford, easing a traffic bottleneck and helping to restore fractured supply lines in the province.
That community remained on alert and under a flood watch Thursday night, as more heavy rain pounded the region raising concerns the Nooksack River in Washington state could flood again, sending more water pouring north of the border. Two more rain storms are expected in the coming days.
Crews have been working continuously since last week to repair and buttress dikes surrounding the Sumas Prairie lowlands, some of which remain under more than two metres of water.
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