Heavy rains delivered disappointment Saturday to chowder fans in Portsmouth, to high school track-and-field fans in Londonderry and to fireworks fanatics in Manchester.

A storm system moving out of the Great Lakes also knocked out power to nearly 1,000 homes and businesses — from the North Country to Manchester — on Saturday afternoon.

State emergency officials kept their focus on three areas around the state: the Seacoast for possible flooding due to astronomically high tides, southwest areas hit hard by Tuesday rains that undermined some state and local roads, and the eastern slopes of the White Mountains for rain runoff.

Christopher Pope, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in New Hampshire, said officials from the state, the National Weather Service and from several dozen communities held a noon conference call Saturday.

“We're obviously monitoring and keeping in touch with the communities expected to have the most issues from this weather event,” Pope said.

“We'll be paying close attention to the Conway area and Saco River,” Pope said. “That's the area had significant experience with Tropical Storm Irene last summer.”

Coastal areas had a coastal flood warning posted for Saturday evening for possible splash-over and beach erosion, but Hampton fire Capt. John Stevens said his department hasn't taken any extra steps other than monitoring the weather reports.

“We're kind of waiting it out and seeing what will happen,” Stevens said.

The storm was forecast to shift further east than earlier predicted, according to Margaret Curtis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. On average, much of the North Country and eastern areas should receive 2 to 3 inches of rain by late Sunday, with isolated areas getting up to 5 inches.

She said the heaviest ran in the state through Saturday afternoon fell in the Lakes Region with 1 to 1.5 inches of precipitation.

“This should be the end of the heavy rain by the end of Sunday,” Curtis said. The forecast calls for a chance of showers through Wednesday.

The weekend washout was a stark contrast to the Memorial Day weekend.

“It's not very often we get a beautiful Memorial Day weekend, so I guess this is what we have to put with,” Curtis said

The gloomy weather washed out more than 40 high school sporting contests Saturday. A girls' softball game in Colebrook was the only one on the docket played Saturday.

Manchester police said the weather forced cancellation of a fireworks display over the Merrimack River, part of Sky Show 20.

The rain also postponed the 28th annual WOKQ Chowder Festival in Portsmouth, an event that traditionally draws thousands of seafood enthusiasts, and canceled the 32nd annual Wildflower Festival at The Rocks Estate in Bethlehem.

At the University of New Hampshire in Durham, some events at the Special Olympics New Hampshire were canceled while others were moved inside.

In Gilford, rain caused problems for flights at an open house at the Laconia Municipal Airport and kept crowds smaller than usual, an airport spokesperson said. “We did pretty well considering the bad weather,” she said.

The 9th Annual Taste of Dover, originally slated for Saturday, was called off last Tuesday because of slow ticket sales, according to event organizer Carrie Eisner.

In Keene, firefighter Jarrod Houston said his department hadn't received any weather-related calls.

“We just made sure all the equipment we used in the past was ready in case we did need it,” he said.

He said he was looking forward to the sun returning.

“Who isn't?” he asked. “The summer's coming.”

Dan Seufert, John Quinn and Kristi Garofalo contributed to this story.