Downpour scuppers Sunrise event

Work has started on cleaning up Somerset. Photo from Verity Bracher

This weekend's Sunrise music festival has been postponed because of "severe weather conditions" in the Somerset area, organisers have announced.

Torrential storms overnight caused flooding in the area, and staff had to turn fans away from the site.

The four-day event, headlined by dance act The Orb, has been postponed to an unspecified date next year.

A message on the Sunrise website said: "We are determined to honour every ticket that we have sold."

"We're sorry too, to those who arrived later and were turned away," it continued.

"We had to stop but till the last possible minute we were pushing on through the wind, the rain and the floods in the hope that we could still make it happen for everyone."

Organisers are now dismantling and drying out the site.

Meanwhile there are concerns that other music festivals could be affected by bad weather.

The Met Office told the Guardian newspaper Glastonbury was likely to be wet again this year.

A spokesman said rainfall was "more likely to be either near, or above average" for the time of year.