British town evacuated as dam disintegrates

Whaley Bridge, United Kingdom: Hundreds of people were evacuated from a town in central England as a British military helicopter was called in Friday to prevent a reservoir dam from collapsing.

The Toddbrook Reservoir dam was feared to be on the verge of caving in following heavy rain, threatening the lives and homes of residents in Whaley Bridge.

One side of the dam spillway weakened when the panels started to come away on Thursday.

A Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter lowered bags of aggregate into the damaged part of the dam wall on Friday, while 150 firefighters, deployed from around the country, have been pumping water out of the reservoir.

"It is a critical situation," said Julie Sharman, chief operating officer of the Canal and River Trust which runs the reservoir.

She said water levels had reduced by around eight inches (20 centimetres) overnight.

The British government has issued a "severe flooding -- danger to life" warning for the area directly below the dam.

Standing at a police cordon, Sarah Hamlet, 32, a company director, told AFP: "It´s very surreal. It doesn´t seem like it´s happening at all. It genuinely is a nightmare."

Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire is on the edge of the Peak District National Park and 16 miles (26 kilometres) southeast of the city of Manchester.

The reservoir, which contains around 1.3 million tonnes of water, dates back to the 19th century.

Fast-flowing water had been rushing over the spillway before the collapse.