The tournament director for Bowls New Zealand, Allan Griffiths, made the decision early after inspecting the flooded greens about 7am.
"We wanted to take the decision early to let the players, officials and volunteers know what was happening," Griffiths told the Otago Daily Times.
It was the first time in more than 40 years that a day at a national bowls championship in Dunedin had been lost.
Former Bowls New Zealand president Ian Roche has been an official at national tournaments in Dunedin since 1980 and this is the first time in his experience that a whole day's play has been lost.
"We have lost two or three hours on some occasions but I have never known a whole day to be abandoned," Roche said.
"But all is not lost, because with our long twilight, we can keep playing until 9pm if it is necessary."
In 1997, heavy rain flooded the Taieri headquarters green and forced the final of the men's fours to be shifted to the Westpac Indoor Bowls Stadium.
It was won by the composite team of Andrew Curtain, Mike Solomon, Peter Shaw and skip Gary Lawson.
New Zealand bowls selector and North East Valley greenkeeper Terry Scott recalled a day's play being lost when the championships were held at Auckland in the 1980s.
"I'm not worried about the greens," Scott said.
"When the rain stops, we will sweep the water off the greens and they will dry out quickly."
The greens are cotula, so they dry out quickly and can be played on soon after the rain stops.
Griffiths explained the alterations that have been made to the programme because of the weather.
The women's pairs will play as scheduled, but the men's pairs will move to the day-two venue for today's games.
Section play in the men's pairs is reduced to four games of 16, rather than 18, ends, all to be played today.
This is a reduction from the scheduled six games.
Winners of three and four games will advance to post-section play.
The women's singles have been redrawn and will now be a knockout tournament that will start on Friday.
