The Fraser River at South Fort George continues to recede, City Hall said Thursday, but not enough to call off an evacuation alert for the east side of Farrell Street.
As of 11:45 a.m. the river had dropped to 8.3 metres from 8.6 metres the day before - a pace of roughly a centimetre per hour - and the provincial government's River Forecast Centre downgraded its flood warning to a high stream advisory.
Additionally, Environment Canada is anticipating a weakening weather system with reduced rainfall of five to 10 mm in Prince George by Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Environment Canada was predicting 15 to 25 millimetres in a special weather statement, but by mid morning had rescinded that forecast, said Prince George fire chief John Lane.
"What happens is every day when these emergencies are in effect is we have a conference call at 10:30 and the first guy to speak is from Environment Canada and at that time he had backed away from that statement," Lane said.
As much was confirmed by Environment Canada meteorologist Cindy Yu late Thursday afternoon.
"In terms of the forecast, it looks like the heavy showers will be passing through this city most likely the next couple hours [on Thursday] but the amount doesn't look to be as heavy as what we forecasted previously," Yu said.
"The bottom line is that it doesn't look like it will be as heavy as what is stated in the special weather statement."
An evacuation order remained in effect for 11 homes on the east side of Farrell Street and a declaration of state of local emergency continued.
"Preliminary inspections have identified two dwellings that will require further examination once the river recedes," City officials said in a statement.
