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STORY: "People have seen their homes washed away, seen the winds, ripped schools, roofs off. But as Canadians, as we always do in times of difficulty, we will be there for each other," Trudeau said at a press conference.

The prime minister met on Saturday morning with members of a government emergency response team, and later told reporters that the armed forces would be deployed to help with the clean up.

Federal assistance has already been approved for Nova Scotia, and more requests are expected, Trudeau said, adding that the government will match relief donations made by citizens and corporations over the next 30 days.

Trudeau also acknowledged Canada's need to build more resilient infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events, "maybe a one in 100 year storm that tend to start hitting every every few years instead of every century."

He had delayed his planned Saturday departure for Japan to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but said he now would no longer make the trip, and stay instead to visit the storm-damaged region as soon as possible.

"The last thing I want to do is displace any of the extraordinary emergency teams and authorities who are rightly focusing on everything needed on the ground," Trudeau told reporters. "But I will be out there to to see people and to demonstrate that all Canadians stand with them as quickly as is responsible."

Fiona made landfall between Canso and Guysborough, Nova Scotia, where the Canadian Hurricane Centre said it recorded what may have been the lowest barometric pressure of any storm to hit land in the country's history.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm, downgraded to Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona, was now in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and losing some steam, and canceled hurricane and tropical storm warnings for the region.