A SCHEDULED race meeting in Worcester and a hospice fun run at have both been cancelled because of the continuing bad weather.

The River Severn remains high at Worcester, with the riverside path at South Quay under water and flooding on the racecourse, causing the cancellation of today's race meeting.

The scheduled National Hunt meeting, Super Irish Saturday, was cancelled after an early-morning inspection yesterday.

The notification on the Worcester Racecourse website says: "Saturday 15 June 2019 - Please note that due to large areas of standing water and waterlogging on the track this fixture has been abandoned."

St Richard's Hospice was forced to cancel its Messy Madness fundraising event due to be held at Salwarpe, near Droitwich, today.

A statement issued yesterday said: "This is due to persistent rain causing the ground to become waterlogged to the extent it would pose significant risk of injury to participants.

"It is also impossible for vehicles, which are necessary to the event, to access the grounds.

"As you can imagine, re-arranging an event of this scale is not an easy task – however, our suppliers and partners are all able to help us host the event on Saturday, July 27, at Churchfields Farm.

"We are extremely disappointed to be unable to welcome all those signed-up for Messy Madness this weekend. We would like to apologise for this postponement and any inconvenience it may cause.

"Unfortunately, the circumstances are beyond our control – but we plan to make Messy Madness event in July just as spectacular."

The event is a five-km run with posdered paing and foam, to help raise funds for the work of the Worcester-based hospice.

Hylton Road is set to be closed for two hours from 7am tomorrow morning to install the flood pumps.

In the riverside town of Upton, the flood gates at Waterside and New Street have been erected.

A flood alert has been issued for the River Severn at Kempsey.

The alert, put out at 7.23am yesterday, says levels at the Kempsey Yacht Club river gauge are continuing to rise, with a peak of 6-6.2 metres expected that afternoon.

The Met Office is forecasting that today (Saturday) will start mostly dry, but with outbreaks of heavy rain arriving as the morning goes on.

Sunshine and showers are forecast for Sunday, perhaps with the risk of thunder.