A Royal Air Force Chinook has been drafted into a Derbyshire town in efforts to stop a reservoir collapsing after flooding caused “extensive” damage.
Hundreds of residents of Whaley Bridge were forced to evacuate from their homes and stay elsewhere on Thursday night due to “an unprecedented, fast-moving, emergency situation” caused by heavy downpours.
The helicopter was sent from RAF Odiham in Hampshire to assist at the reservoir, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.
Dramatic pictures show the Chinook dropped bags of aggregate onto the crumbling dam.
Although progress has been made on Friday morning, the dam is feared to be at a “critical moment”.
Toddbrook Reservoir – which contains around 1.3 million tonnes of water – has been badly damaged by heavy rain in recent days and images appear to show a huge hole in the dam wall.
He added: “It will drop one-ton bags of aggregate – a mixture of sand, gravel and stone – into Todd Brook. This is intended to stem the flow of water into the reservoir.”
Videos shared by Shirebrook Fire Station showed the Chinook laden with the aggregate as it flew above the area and hovered above the the dam wall.
Derbyshire Police said 400 tonnes of aggregate would be brought by the RAF as part of a multi-agency taskforce.
On Friday Boris Johnson he had spoken to those leading the operation and thanked them for their efforts.
“My thoughts are with those who have had to leave their homes and all of those who are affected in Whaley Bridge,” he said. “First responders, engineers and RAF crews are working around the clock to fix the dam.”
He added he had instructed the environment secretary to chair a cobra meeting later on Friday to coordinate the government’s response.
Jeremy Corbyn also commented on the situation, tweeting that the government had failed to tackle the causes of flooding.
Speaking on Thursday evening, deputy chief constable Rachel Swann, chairwoman of the Local Resilience Forum, 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.”
Firefighters deployed from across the country used at least 10 high volume pumps to reduce water to a safe level before work will begin to repair the dam wall.
Water flowing into Toddbrook Reservoir has been “reduced considerably” overnight but engineers remain “very concerned” about the integrity of the structure.
Julie Sharman, chief operating officer of the Canal and River Trust said: “It is a critical situation at this point in time. And until we’re beyond that critical situation, the risk is a material risk and that’s why we’ve taken the action we have.”
Engineers have told her the crucial puddle clay core of the dam is still intact, she said, replacing the load on the core, which was lost when the earth was eroded by the heavy rain was crucial.
The amount of water entering the reservoir has already reduced thanks to improving weather and the work carried out by firefighters.
However Derbyshire Chief Fire Officer Terry McDermott said on Friday he is still “very concerned”.
Many people were told to leave their homes and directed to an evacuation point at a school in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Police added that a timescale for people to be able to return to their homes is “currently unknown”.
Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal and River Trust, which runs the reservoir, warned it could be “at least 24 hours” until they can rule out the dam collapsing.
“We clearly don’t know the nature of the failure, we’ve not had the opportunity to examine it, but we’re operating in a very precautionary way with the other agencies,” he told BBC Newsnight.
“Our first priority is to draw down the water and it’s very important that we do keep everyone out of the area until that is done.
“It will be at least 24 hours, it could be longer, it really depends on how much progress we can make overnight and into tomorrow morning.”
He added that the last annual inspection of the structure by a senior engineer was last November.
The Environment Agency issued a “danger to life” warning covering the River Goyt on Thursday, as the river could “rise rapidly” due to water rushing in from the reservoir.
A small number of properties in the areas of Furness Vale and New Mills, outside Whaley Bridge but inside the flood risk area, were also evacuated on Thursday evening.
A local resident told PA that another section of the spillway – designed to release water – further collapsed on Thursday evening.
Carolyn Whittle, who lives in Meadowfield, on the hillside in Whaley Bridge, said: “Another section of the concrete on the dam face has now collapsed.”
The 45-year-old, who works for GM Moving, said: “I’ve lived in Whaley (Bridge) for the best part of 45 years, and I’ve never seen water flood over the dam like that, ever, nor thought that we could possibly be at risk in this way.”
Forecaster Luke Miall said showers in the area had eased overnight, though there was a possibility of rain later in the day.
He added: “There is still a risk of showers breaking out in the afternoon, but it’s a predominantly dry picture for Friday.”
Sporadic rain was also likely in north west Scotland and south west England.