Heavy rainfall that forced the Schuylkill River to swell beyond its banks Thursday caused officials to scrap a regatta scheduled for today.
"Five of our boats have floated away -- devastating blow," said Brannon Johnson, a Community Rowing coach. If I have learned anything from just being an athlete on the Schuylkill is that the river has taught me resiliance."
Philadelphia's Commision on Parks and Recreation canceled the Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association's City Championship scheduled for today, citing the damage sustained by this week's flood.
The regatta, which was set to begin at 8 a.m. and run until nearly 7 p.m., has been tentatively rescheduled for May 18, according to the Rowing Association's website.
Even though many of the boats were unaffected by the flooding, boathouses along the river as well as the pavement on Kelly Drive needed repairs.
"The last couple hurricanes weren't as bad as this one," said Ryan Rickess of Philadelphia City Rowing.
Markings in one boathouse showed the water reached a higher level Thursday than it had during Hurricane Irene.
The postponement also led the Scholastic Rowing Association of America to push back its deadline for Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association teams to submit race times to May 19, according to the PSRA's twitter account.
