Homes evacuated as storms threaten damaged dam

WHALEY BRIDGE: Another 55 homes have been evacuated from an English town threatened by a collapsing dam, emergency services said on Sunday as they raced to reduce the water levels ahead of fresh storms.

Around 1,500 people had already been moved out of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire ater part of the dam wall holding back the Toddbrook Reservoir above the town fell away on Thursday following heavy rain.

A military helicopter has been dropping sandbags to shore up the structure while emergency services have been working around the clock to pump water out of the reservoir.

Water levels have now been reduced by onethird since Thursday, Deputy Fire Chief Gavin Tomlinson told reporters on Sunday morning.

“Our priority remains the same, to pump as much water out of the reservoir as possible, to protect the Whaley Bridge community from the risk of the dam failing,” he said. He added: “A total of 22 pumps have been working through the night and we have been successful in taking about 35 per cent of the water held in the reservoir out.

“This work will continue until engineers are confident that the water is at a safe level and the risk has been mitigated.” The Met Office weather agency has issued a thunderstorm warning for Sunday aternoon, and predicted there could be 30 to 40 millimetres of rain in just a couple of hours.

Residents who fled their homes on Thursday have been allowed back this weekend to collect any essential items, but limited to 15 minutes and warned they enter the town at their own risk.

If the dam fails, emergency services vehicles will sound their horns three times while a loud hailer will also ring out across the town.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the area on Friday evening, where he said the 180-year-old dam would require a “major rebuild”.

Merely halfway through 2019, the world has already witnessed temperature records smashed from Europe to the Arctic Circle and the year could prove to be one of the hotest ever recorded.

This June was the hotest on record, beating out June 2016 — so far the hotest year ever.

The first half of 2019 also saw intense heat waves in Australia, India, Pakistan and parts of the Middle East, according to the World Meterological Organisation (WMO).

Soaring temperatures broke records in germany, France, Britain and the Netherlands last week as a heat wave gripped Europe for the second time in a month and this should definitely be seen as a wake-up for action against climate change.