British Town Evacuated as Dam Disintegrates

Hundreds of people were evacuated from a town in central England as a British military helicopter was called in Friday to prevent a reservoir dam from collapsing.

The Toddbrook Reservoir dam was feared to be on the verge of caving in following heavy rain, threatening the lives and homes of residents in Whaley Bridge.

One side of the dam spillway weakened when the panels started to come away on Thursday.

A Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter lowered bags of aggregate into the damaged part of the dam wall on Friday, while 150 firefighters, deployed from around the country, have been pumping water out of the reservoir.

"It is a critical situation," said Julie Sharman, chief operating officer of the Canal and River Trust which runs the reservoir.

She said water levels had reduced by around eight inches (20 centimeters) overnight.

The British government has issued a "severe flooding -- danger to life" warning for the area directly below the dam.

Standing at a police cordon, Sarah Hamlet, 32, a company director, told AFP: "It's very surreal. It doesn't seem like it's happening at all. It genuinely is a nightmare."

Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire is on the edge of the Peak District National Park and 16 miles (26 kilometers) southeast of the city of Manchester.

The reservoir, which contains around 1.3 million tonnes of water, dates back to the 19th century.

Fast-flowing water had been rushing over the spillway before the collapse.

- Residents 'cut off' -

"The rest of the village, if it actually bursts, it'll wipe it out because there's a school just at the bottom of the reservoir, there's a park for the kids at the bottom of the reservoir, and all the shops and amenities are there," said Martin, 56, a builder who lives in Whaley Bridge. 

"And the train track is actually at the bottom and I've just found out that they've stopped all the trains now. So you're virtually cut off. If you go out of the town, you can't get back in," he told AFP.

The RAF Chinook heavy-lift helicopter was dropping some 400 one-tonne bags of sand, gravel and stone into place.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "My thoughts are with those who have had to leave their homes and all of those who are affected. 

"First responders, engineers and RAF crews are working around the clock to fix the dam." 

Derbyshire Police assistant chief constable Kem Mehmet said more than a thousand people had been evacuated from areas that would be flooded immediately if the dam wall failed.

"As there is still a risk the dam will fail, please stay away from the area," he said.

He said "everything humanly possible" was being done "to save the reservoir wall and to protect the town."