Whaley Bridge flooding: Boris Johnson visits evacuated villagers amid fears dam has ’50-50’ chance of collapse
RAF helicopter is dropping off 400 tonnes of aggregate in race to save damaged dam
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has visited residents evacuated from Whaley Bridge, a Derbyshire town near the Toddbrook Reservoir, which is at risk of being wiped out if the dam collapses.
An RAF helicopter has been drafted in to repair the dam amid fears it could collapse in what police have called an “unprecedented, fast-moving, emergency situation”.
The reservoir contains around 1.3m tonnes of water.
“The plan is to try and stop the dam breaking, clearly. And so a huge amount of effort is going into that,” Mr Johnson said to a group of residents when he visited the town on Friday evening.
“The Chinook’s been over putting in the aggregate and putting in the sandbags to try and stop it bursting. They’re pumping out huge amounts of water.”
“We’ve had an exceptional weather event, we must make sure that this dam can cope with it in the future,” he added.
“That will mean a major rebuild, clearly.”
The reservoir’s spillway partially crumbled on Thursday after heavy rain fell in the area.
The RAF Chibook has dropped around 400 tonnes of sanbags in an effort to repair the dam.
But officials said it was unclear how long the crisis would go on for. The reservoir’s water level has dropped by half a metre, but needs to drop by several more metres to be considered safe.
“We will be putting plans in place for residents to return to their home to pick up very vital things they need along with their animal welfare,” said Kem Mehmet of Derbyshire Police.
“This is very controlled, I must stress that, because this is still life at risk.”
Police have closed railway lines in the Whaley Bridge area over the risk of potential flooding.
The reservoir is on the north-west edge of the Peak District National Park and was built in 1831, according to experts, although the Environment Agency records it as being built in 1840-41.
Meanwhile, clean-up operations are under way across parts of the North West hit by heavy rain. Residents in Poynton in Cheshire were also evacuated on Wednesday night.
If you would like to see how the emergency response unfolded live, please see what was our live coverage below:
The RAF says staff trying to secure the dam wall have a limited amount of room to operate in.
A RAF helicopter is dropping 400 bags of aggregate to reinforce the wall.
But staff can only drop them in a narrow space, due to fears of putting too much pressure on the dam.
"It's a bit like a big Lego block that we're building, we've got a foundation in there and we're carrying on building each on top of each other," said Gary Lane, the Royal Air Force liasion at the scene.
Derbyshire Police say that currently "no further evacuations are planned" in Whaley Bridge.
"We will update our social media channels if this changes," a spokesperson said.
Greater Manchester Police has said it is not planning to evacuate residents from the Stockport area.
"We recognise that the ongoing situation in Derbyshire may cause concern among residents in Greater Manchester, especially those in the Stockport area, but we would like to reassure residents that we're closely monitoring the incident," a spokesperson said.
"At this stage we are not evacuating any areas, but urge residents to stay alert and observe flood levels near them."
The RAF continues to fly in sandbags to help repair the dam. Engineers say they remain "very concerned" about its integrity.
The Whaley Bridge crisis means that train lines could be closed until Monday, according to National Rail.
"Lines between Hazel Grove / Marple and Sheffield are also blocked due to the ongoing risk of the dam collapsing at Toddbrook Reservoir," a spokesperson said.
"We don't have a firm estimate of how long this incident will last; however, the emergency services are advising that the line could remain closed until the end of the day on Monday."
National Rail advises all customers not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
Emergency services have lowered the water level in the dam by half a meter but continue to urge residents to stay away from Whaley Bridge.
Police officers will allow Whaley Bridge residents to briefly return to their homes in a "controlled" way.
Kem Mehmet, of Derbyshire Police, continued to urge locals to stay away from the area.
He said officers would allow people to briefly return, after residents raised concerns over left behind pets.
"We will be putting plans in place for residents to return to their home to pick up very vital things they need along with their animal welfare," he said.
"This is very controlled, I must stress that, because this is still life at risk."
Mr Mehmet said there was still a "substantial threat to life" if the dam wall failed.
"We would ask residents to continue to heed police advice and stay away from Whaley Bridge," he said.
Emergency services are unclear how long the Whaley Bridge operation will last, Kem Mehmet said.
“Until we get all the pumps in place to be able to make an accurate assessment of the situation we won’t be able to know how long this will go on for," he said.
Officials are currently holding a press conference to update the press and public about the crisis.
There are at least three engineers currently on site at the Toddbrook Reservoir.
“We are doing all the things we should be doing which is lowering the water as soon as possible and protecting the dam from the risk of failing," a spokesperson for the Canal and River Trust, which owns the reservoir, said.
“I am very hopeful but this is still a critical situation."
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