LONDON (AP) – A Royal Air Force helicopter and firefighters are shoring up a reservoir wall in northwest England amid fears that a rain-damaged dam could collapse.
A Chinook is dumping bags of sand and gravel to reinforce a wall of the 19th-century Toddbrook Reservoir as emergency workers use pumps to lower the water level behind the dam.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the town of Whaley Bridge on Thursday with police officers going door-to-door to notify residents. People in the town, located 175 miles (280 kilometers) northwest of London, were advised to stay with friends and family elsewhere if possible, and to take pets and several days of essential medications with them.
Heavy rains have caused flash floods in many parts of the U.K.
WHALEY BRIDGE, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: A Chinook helicopter creates a rainbow in the spray as it prepares to drop sandbags onto the dam wall at Toddbrook reservoir following a severe structural failure after heavy rain, on August 02, 2019 in Whaley Bridge, England. The town’s 6,500 people were forced to leave their homes after yesterday’s partial collapse of the dam at Toddbrook Reservoir, in Derbyshire. Engineers have been pumping water from the reservoir overnight to reduce the water level. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
WHALEY BRIDGE, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: A Chinook helicopter prepares to drop sandbags onto the dam wall at Toddbrook reservoir following a severe structural failure after heavy rain, on August 02, 2019 in Whaley Bridge, England. The town’s 6,500 people were forced to leave their homes after yesterday’s partial collapse of the dam at Toddbrook Reservoir, in Derbyshire. Engineers have been pumping water from the reservoir overnight to reduce the water level. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Personnel use a Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook helicopter to lower bags of aggregate to reinforce the damaged spillway of the Toddbrook Reservoir dam above the town of Whaley Bridge in northern England on August 2, 2019. – Emergency services continued work to repair a damaged dam they fear could collapse as hundreds of evacuated residents of the northern town of Whaley Bridge spent the night away from home. (Photo by Roland HARRISON / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROLAND HARRISON/AFP/Getty Images)
Personnel use a Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook helicopter to lower bags of aggregate to reinforce the damaged spillway of the Toddbrook Reservoir dam above the town of Whaley Bridge in northern England on August 2, 2019. – Emergency services continued work to repair a damaged dam they fear could collapse as hundreds of evacuated residents of the northern town of Whaley Bridge spent the night away from home. (Photo by Roland HARRISON / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROLAND HARRISON/AFP/Getty Images)
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