Last week’s rainy weather has canceled the annual Polar Bear Plunge at Lake Lanier.

“Water is almost over the apron of the boathouse,” said Jason Peck, outgoing president of the  Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club, on Sunday, Dec. 30. “With the water continuing to rise, it’s going to bring trash upon the apron. We don’t know what (water) is safe and what’s not safe.”

A new date for the New Year’s Day event, which serves as a club fundraiser, hasn’t been set.

With rain in the forecast, “we don’t know how much more the (water) table is going to rise,” Peck said. “We’ll have to assess (the situation) at the end of this week and see how the weather (has affected) the water level.”

And then there’s safety.

“We’ll have to do a lot of cleaning up,” Peck said.

Blair Hickerson, incoming president of LCKC, said organizers were hoping for about 75 people to attend the event at the Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, given the warmer weather.

The fundraiser supports LCKC programs throughout the year. The club’s first race of 2019, the Lula Bridge race, comes in March.