Officials with the Whatcom Long Term Recovery Group has scheduled sessions for residents affected by the flood to request help.

With his city facing a second major flood in four years, the mayor of Abbotsford, B.C., rebuked his provincial and federal counterparts on Friday for failing to heed the lessons of a devastating 2021 flood and provide funding for dikes, pumps and other mitigation projects.

Some have seen their homes flood two or three times over the last 15 years and are taking extra precautions to protect their property.

Every access route into Sumas remains closed, including SR 9, SR 546, and major local roads such as East Badger Road, Halverstick Road, Garrison Road and Clearbrook Road. Flooding has also closed several bridges across the county, and crews are investigating reported damage to the Twin View dike.

The U.S. National Weather Service is predicting historic flooding for Skagit County, and Upriver communities, including Rockport, Hamilton, Marblemount.

“We’re ready to go, and at one point this afternoon, we’ll leave,” she said, watching as sheets of water slipped down her road and into a nearby field. She was hopeful her house would not flood because it didn’t during catastrophic storms in 2021.

The flooding is the result of a powerful atmospheric river, an ocean-crossing weather phenomenon originating in the tropics or subtropics, commonly seen on the West Coast. Since Tuesday, between 90 and 150 millimetres of rain fell over southern B.C., officials said.

Communities along the Skagit River, from Sedro Woolley to Mount Vernon, are on high alert as two atmospheric rivers threaten major flooding.Mount Vernon's Mayo

Drive B.C. is reporting that most major highways to the Lower Mainland are still closed. However, Highway 1 in Fraser Canyon from Yale to Lytton reopened Thursday morning, and there was a partial reopening on Highway 7.