PC is hailed as the real hero of Whaley Bridge
A YEAR AFTER THE DRAMATIC NEAR-COLLAPSE OF THE DERBYSHIRE DAM DETAILS EMERGE OF THE EMERGENCY
A POLICE constable has been hailed a hero of the Whaley Bridge dam emergency a year on.
More than 1,500 people were evacuated from the picturesque village in Derbyshire when the spillway wall of the Toddbrook Reservoir dam cracked and began to fail during torrential rainfall last August.
A danger to life warning was issued – followed by weeks of unprecedented scenes.
The RAF scrambled a Chinook helicopter to drop hundreds of tonnes of aggregate in bags and shore up the gaping chasms in the spillway wall, and the reservoir itself was drained.
Now, on the anniversary of the remarkable life-saving operation, the actions of lone Derbyshire Constabulary PC Geoff Marshall have emerged. It’s also claimed that up to a 1,000 body bags were taken to the area.
Engineers, according to reports, have credited PC Marshall’s bravery and skill with saving the town and its residents. The dam wall and slipway held back 280 million gallons of water from Whaley Bridge – and its people.
As firefighters battled to pump out water, PC Marshall climbed up onto the crumbling spillway wall and laid down around 400 sandbags being passed to him from colleagues.
He continued despite whirlpools forming at his feet, which is said to be a tell-tale sign of an imminent collapse, the report said.
The bags provided an extra ‘lip’ - holding back the reservoir’s water from the area where the spillway had failed, police chiefs said.
Deputy chief constable Rachel Swann told The Independent: “The engineers have since said that single act of laying those sandbags probably saved the reservoir from collapse because that extra lip meant the water couldn’t then overflow to where all the damage had already taken place.
“And that engineer said he felt that made a massive difference. It was an extreme act of bravery.”
A priest in the town, Father Jamie MacLeod, is also said to have raised the alarm after first noticing cracks emerging in the spillway.
He recalled the body bags arriving at Whaley Hall, saying they were on ‘standby,’ the newspaper reported. Emergency services – and the Chinook – remained in the village as the repair operation continued and huge fire service pumps drained the water.
Residents, finally, were allowed back into their homes after six nights away.
The M.E.N. reported in February a huge engineering project to repair the dam had been drawn up. It’s likely to take many years – and many millions of pounds.
No exact timescale or costing has been put on the project by the Canal and River Trust, which owns the reservoir.
The first phase of the permanent works will begin in spring 2021 at the Todd Brook inlet channel at the head of the reservoir.
A temporary repair was completed last month.