Organisers of two major events planned for the North East this Saturday have cancelled them following the deluge of overnight rain.
Annual favourite Durham Regatta and the first ever Seaham Food Festival will not now go ahead, with the team behind the latter saying they are "devastated".
The last-minute decisions were made after the near constant rainfall since Friday made conditions impossible but, with each event due to run for two days, the hope was that - weather permitting - they would be able to continue on Sunday as planned.
However that hope was soon dashed for Durham Regatta and the entire event now has been abandoned.
However, the team at Seaham Food Festival - which had been due to make its debut on Seaham sea front with an assortment of food and drinks stalls, entertainment and guest chefs - are currently keeping fingers crossed for a drier Sunday.
While the cancellations might not have come as any great surprise to those keeping a close eye on the weather, they will have disappointed the thousands of spectators and visitors, as well as participants following many months of preparation.
The annual Durham Regatta - the 186th event - had been set for two days of head-to-head racing on the Wear with rowing clubs competing for nearly 60 trophies.
The decision to cancel was made on Saturday morning - just hours before the action was due to start - following an assessment of river levels which showed it was not safe for racing.
A statement on Durham Regatta's website read: "Unfortunately due to the amount of rainfall overnight in Durham and the Dales, the river is now rising rapidly."
A few hours later it was updated to say that the race team and technical committee had now ruled out both days following another review of the state of the river and the current weather forecast.
It thanked the supporters and those involved in preparations and added that they "share the disappointment of all the competitors who will now not have the opportunity of racing at the North’s premier regatta in 2019" .
The statement ended: "On the bright side, we are more than ready for 2020 and look forward to welcoming you next year."
Saturday's announcement about Seaham Food Festival on Durham County Council's Facebook page was rather more optimistic, saying: "The forecast for Sunday is much better and all tomorrow's events will go ahead as planned."
It added that it was "devastated" that terrible weather had left it no choice but to cancel Saturday's event and said that those who had bought tickets to highlights such as its gin school session will be able to use them on Sunday or else have a full refund.
Oliver Sherratt, the council’s head of environment, said: “We were all really looking forward to the festival today, our first food festival in Seaham, and are extremely disappointed to have had to cancel today’s events.
“The weather forecast for tomorrow is much better and Sunday’s programme is planned to go ahead. We hope to see everyone down here tomorrow.
“We’re really sorry for any inconvenience today’s cancellation has caused but this awful weather really left us with no choice.” See Sunday's programme here.
