Whaley Bridge dam: Boris Johnson visits Derbyshire as threat remains 'critical'

Boris Johnson is visiting Whaley Bridge as the threat posed by a damaged dam remains "critical."

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the Derbyshire town after the Toddbrook Reservoir dam was severely damaged by heavy rainfall, posing a "substantial threat to life."

Emergency services have lowered the water level by half a metre, but the structural integrity of the damn remains "critical."

Residents were allowed to return home to collect pets and medication on Friday afternoon, but only in a "controlled way," according to police.

The Prime Minister met a number of families affected by the evacuation at Chapel-en-le-Frith High School, telling them he had flown over the dam twice and it was "dodgy but stable".

He said: "I flew over the dam and it looks pretty scary. I can see the problem."

Mr Johnson assured residents "you will all be properly housed" if the dam burst, but told a group of police officers: "Let's hope it doesn't happen."

One woman told the Prime Minster she was worried that residents would be let back home and then the dam would burst

Mr Johnson said: "No, no, we can't do that. That's why there may be a bit more inconvenience and it may go on for a few days because they really have to check this out."

Asked about the operation he saw, he said: "It's very impressive, there's a huge amount of work going on."

Another resident asked if he was surprised by the amount of damage. Mr Johnson said: "I was. You can see why, plainly, it's not safe to be in Whaley Bridge."

One police officer said that if the dam had burst it would have been like the Ruhr valley - an apparent reference to the RAF's dambusting raid in the Second World War.

Mr Johnson said: "It would have been like the Ruhr valley. It would have been like the final moment in that film. Well, let's hope it doesn't happen. It looks dodgy but stable."

Mr Johnson told another group of residents: "The plan is to try and stop the dam breaking, clearly. And so a huge amount of effort is going into that.

"The Chinook's been over putting in the aggregate and putting in the sandbags to try and stop it bursting. They're pumping out huge amounts of water."

Mr Johnson said he thought they had to get the level of the water down about eight metres, although there was some discussion with the surrounding officials about whether this was the exact figure.

He said: "They've got a long way to go. Whatever we do, we'll make sure we rebuild it."

Stopping for selfies in the hall, he asked where everyone slept last night and when it became obvious they would have to leave.

He also looked shocked to be told some people had refused to leave. Flanked by senior police officers, he said: "We've got to sort that out."

The Prime Minister had earlier tweeted that his thoughts were with those affected and that emergency services were working around the clock to fix the dam.

He added: "I have just spoken to GOLD Commander and Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Swann to thank them for their ongoing efforts and I have instructed the Environment Secretary to chair a COBR meeting later today to coordinate the Government’s response."

During a multi-agency press conference on Friday evening, Assistant Chief Constable Kem Mehmet of Derbyshire Police urged residents to continue to stay away from the area.

He said there was still "a substantial threat to life" if the dam wall fails.

"We would ask residents to continue to heed police advice and stay away from Whaley Bridge," he told the press conference.

Due to concerns raised by residents over pets being left behind, he said officials had made the "difficult" decision to allow people to return to their homes in a "controlled" way.

"We will be putting plans in place for residents to return to their home to pick up very vital things they need along with their animal welfare

"This is very controlled, I must stress that, because this is still life at risk."

Numbers returning will be restricted to one person per household, he said, and it was "difficult" to say when people would be allowed to return permanently.

Julie Sharman, chief operating officer for the Canal and River Trust, told the press conference the water level needs to be reduced by "several more" metres, with more pumps being installed on Friday evening.

"This is still a very critical situation," she said.

"Until we are confident we can control that risk, then our position has to be to protect the public safety and limit access because we don't want to put people at risk."

Toddbrook Reservoir - which contains around 1.3 million tonnes of water - has seen "extensive" damage during the flooding.

Firefighters deployed from across the country are using at least 10 high volume pumps to reduce water.

The RAF also deployed Chinook helicopters to the area to dump sandbags on the dam in a bid to stop it bursting.