An RAF helicopter has been brought in to help repair a damaged reservoir which hold a threat of flooding a town. Engineers have been pumping water out of the Toddbrook Reservoir, in Derbyshire, after part of a dam wall collapsed.
@DerPolDroneUnit
The Toddbrook Reservoir contains 1.3 million tonnes of water and sits above hundreds of homes and businesses in the town. Derbyshire police have asked residents who are at highest risk to leave their homes.
The RAF Chinook is dropping 400 tonnes of aggregate in a hope to stop more water getting in. The timescale for the repairs is currently unknown so residents will not know when they will be able to get back home. Police told residents to take all pets and medication with them due to them not knowing when they will be able to go home. A number of roads have been closed in the area, including the A6 and the A5004.
Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Swann said: “To move the substantial amount of aggregate into place – a Chinook helicopter will be operating in the area in the coming hours to allow precise placement and divert the flow of the water.
“With all that said, at this time the future of the dam wall remains in the balance and I would remind people of the very real danger posed to them should the wall collapse.”
The Dam Wall at Toddbrook Reservoir in Whaley Bridge this morning, looks like Barnes Wallis and @OC617Sqn has had a pop at it. @BBCNews pic.twitter.com/gtnFExZ9Gs
— Frag Last (@fraglast) August 1, 2019
Emergency workers are trying to reduce the water and pressures on the wall to allow the work to begin. Police, the Environment Agency, and the Canal and River Trust had all said there is a “real risk” the dam could collapse.
Firefighters across the country are using at least 10 high volume pumps to help divert tonnes of water from the reservoir and to stop pressure on the dam. The pumps can move 7,000 litres of water per minute.
