Prime Minister Stephen Harper will tour parts of Newfoundland on Friday to witness first-hand the damage done by hurricane Igor.

Igor hit the province hard earlier this week, flooding entire communities, cutting of power to 50,000 people and causing the death of one man who was swept out to sea.

Harper's spokesperson Dimitri Soudas said Thursday the federal government's disaster assistance program will kick in for the province, which Premier Danny Williams estimated has suffered tens of millions in damages.

Earlier Thursday police identified the 80-year-old man who drowned as Igor passed by the province on Tuesday.

Allen Duffett was swept down a waterway on Random Island, off Newfoundland's east coast.

RCMP Sgt. Boyd Merrill said police were searching for his body. They do not know how far Duffett may have been carried, and poor weather was slowing the search on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland residents continue to clean up and dig out from what many are calling the worst storm they can remember.

Crews were able to reopen a section of the Trans-Canada Highway in central Newfoundland on Thursday.

Emergency workers brought in gravel and other supplies to fill a deep hole that cut off traffic flow from one half of the province to the other.

But police say the highway would, for now, be open only to emergency vehicles carrying in supplies to communities still cut off by road washouts and collapsed bridges.

Igor dumped as much as 250 millimetres of rain in some places -- that's about a foot of water in less than a day -- washing out roads and flooding numerous homes when it roared across the island early Tuesday.

More than 15,000 people are still without power in eastern portions of the island, due to heavy winds that reached 163 km/h and knocked down power lines.

At the height of the storm, trees were downed across Newfoundland and power was out to 50,000 people and 30 communities had declared states of emergency.

Igor is thought to have caused more damage than tropical storm Chantal in 2007, which left a $25-million bill in its wake.

In many communities, residents are still without water or power. And in towns such as Marystown, hundreds of people still have flooded basements.

In St. John's, city workers are still cleaning up toppled trees, which were affecting road and power lines. Paul Mackey, St. John's director of public works, said the tree damage in the city was the worst he's ever seen.

The Newfoundland government now says it will fast-track repairs to places hit hard by Igor. Tom Hedderson, the minister responsible for emergency preparedness, says repairing road links will be the first priority.

Harper will head to Newfoundland after wrapping up his visit to the UN General Assembly on Thursday. He's expected to arrive in Newfoundland sometime after midnight.

Premier Danny Williams is telling people looking to make insurance claims to take pictures or video of the damage, and keep their invoices for any repairs.

Williams spent much of Wednesday surveying the damage by air along with Hedderson, touring in particular the Burin Peninsula which took the hardest hit.

With files from The Canadian Press