Whaley Bridge dam: Residents refuse to evacuate as fire chief says flooding danger is not over

The firefighter in charge of preventing a dam bursting over a Peak District village has spoken of his fear the entire structure could collapse – and said the danger was not yet over.

Gavin Tomlinson, deputy chief officer of Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, is leading ongoing efforts to secure Toddbrook Reservoir after its spillway wall gave way, threatening an inundation of Whaley Bridge below.

Some 1,500 residents have been evacuated from the area since Thursday, but police officers said some had returned to their homes against official advice.

Residents were allowed back to the town in a controlled manner to pick up essentials and find their pets.

But some have stayed in their homes. A police officer said residents of 22 homes remained in Whaley Bridge, including those who resisted the initial evacuation.

Speaking about critical efforts to reduce the water levels, Mr Tomlinson told The Independent: “There was five times more water going into the reservoir – from rain and inlets – than we could pump out on Thursday night, so it was a uniquely critical situation. We’ve now got ahead of that curve.

“There are always points where you fear it is about to go, but that’s why we have the safety precautions in place.”

Asked if the consequences of failure – the deluge of up to 600 homes – have played on his mind, he said: “They have to. That’s why we had to deal with it as quickly as possible. It’s all hands to the pump.”

And, while he said good progress had been made to secure the 180-year-old reservoir, he added : “We are not out the woods yet.

“We will keep going. These crews do not stop until they achieve what they need to achieve. It’s a unique situation and it’s taken a lot of effort and a lot of teamwork.”

He said that crews had reduced the reservoir’s water levels from maximum capacity to 65 per cent – but engineers said it needed to be down to about 25 per cent before it could be considered safe.

And he revealed, for the first time, the sheer logistical challenges of the operation.

Workers had to build, from scratch, a 50-metre road to the reservoir and footbridges over pumping equipment, as well as creating a temporary headquarters – complete with gas stoves – for resting firefighters.

Twenty-three vast pumps were brought in from as far as South Wales and the West Midlands to help the effort, while RAF Chinooks dropped 400 sandbags to secure the integrity of the collapsing wall itself.

Some 150 firefighters, as well as dozens of engineers, police officers, council staff and volunteers, have been involved in the operation to secure the dam.

In other developments on Sunday, police halted an operation which had allowed evacuated residents to return home for 15 minutes to collect essentials. They said the new storm forecasts made more returns unsafe.

And, in the nearby town of Marple, the army was deployed amid fears the River Goyt could overflow as excess reservoir water is pumped into it.

A public meeting held at 5pm at nearby Chapel-en-le-Frith High School – the makeshift evacuation centre during the emergency – was expected to tell the roughly 1,500 displaced residents they would probably not be allowed back home until Friday at the earliest.