True Heroes

---

More Than 1,000 People worked day and night for the last Seven Days to finish, a Dam collapse and destroy a village in the Peak District. These are just Some of the stories of those who helped to save Whaley Bridge from near disaster.

The vicar, father Jamie Mcleod was the First Person , The Alarm , The Reservoir at the bottom of father Jamie Mcleod's driveway has never looked so full. 31. In July, the sight of Water cascading down the spillway was gorgeous, he thought.

But the flow was getting heavier.

to appear Early the next day, when the "Bouncing" torrent turned yellow and the Water began to brook Reservoir , through the soil in addition to Todd, the vicar began to get angry.

"I thought 'that's weird, I've never seen'," he recalls, about six days later, sitting in a comfortable chair in his house, Whaley hall, a Church, a retreat house since 1979.

He went for a closer look and was horrified by what he Saw - the Water comes through the concrete wall, about you.

When he raised The Alarm , father Mcleod appealed to The Authorities to Evacuate for a course of Action - The Village . When the command was given to about 14:00 BST, SOS message, the sirens he rang the bell in Morse Code on The Church bells, accompanied by the wail of the ambulance service.

The pastor would not sleep again for four days. When the villagers had fled, a wave of hi vis clad construction workers and emergency service workers arrived, and he could see to feed that you would need.

He put an appeal on Facebook for deliveries and a steady stream of donations and Volunteers filtered to him through the only accessible Entrance - a ramshackle Secret Garden-style gate at The Top of The Church estate.

The vicar in his dog collar, Hiking pants and red socks, will swell the memory of The Arrival on Saturday of A Mother and her three-year-old boy, his gift and said: "I have a cake for all the People on The Dam . "

Whaley hall has been flooded kitchen with donations from other residents and shops About 20 Volunteers spent days with sandwiches, lasagnes, pies and baked potatoes in father Mcleod's, which were then carried out to the sailing Club - a provisional moratorium area for the parties involved in The Rescue Action .

His dining room has been overrun with boxes of biscuits, bottles of Water , and various microwavable meals, while the freezer is practically stuffed full with Pizza and chairs creaking bags under mountains of tea.

father Mcleod has run the entire spectrum of emotions, from fear, sadness, and finally relief as the Water levels and The Risk of a collapse is resigned.

"It was a very traumatic time, but I don't feel as emotional as I did now. There are two or Three Days Hit Me , if I break out just in tears. "

It was only after Five Days , if the Water had been reduced to a level of 8m (26ft) was he felt finally able to relax.

"lifted Our mood and we could actually smile and laugh again. Until then, it was touch and go. "

The centre of Whaley was leaving the Bridge, for six days, Although he has lived in Whaley Bridge for Some 20 years, father Mcleod, that he has seen The Village in a new light.

"I went over on The Thursday evening and it was a ghost town. There were no sounds, no lights, nothing to say, it was homey.

"But I've also seen The Help for others, in trat, the whole village came to each other's support, I have never seen before in Whaley Bridge . The memories will never leave. "

He picked up the largest St George's flag he can find " to show we are Still Standing . "

And if The Village residents were eventually allowed home six days after they left, they were greeted by the bells of the parish priest of The Church bells.

The Police -PC Tom-Gee leads Derbyshire police-drone device, If the leader of Derbyshire police-drones-unit clocked in for work at 08:00 am 1. In August, he could not stint have predicted, his eight-hour shift would in a 27-hour.

Until last month, PC Tom Gee's team consisted of himself And One other person. Fortunately, you other 23 People had formed recently.

"Well , if we had not done it, we would not be able to offer 24/7 service that we have," he says, smiling, with something like relief.

The drone was "instrumental" in getting in the vicinity of the damaged Dam , and the provision of important information for important decisions.

It was airborne within minutes of the PC-Gee's arrival on The First day, fly much closer to the precarious high Water discharge than any other man could safely get.

It was "quite scary", and "by far" the largest operation that he was involved.

The drone footage allowed for closer inspection of the damage, "The heavy had not arrived. It was a pretty scary thought what could happen. You could see bits of crumbling. "

The drone has clocked up More Than 10 hours in the entire operation - a fair amount if you consider every escape is just a few minutes.

"My main memory of this will not all sleep," says The Officer . "It was non-stop, but that's why we do this work. "

" Deputy chief constable Rachel Swann said, you have placed the officers lives are in danger every time if you are in the restricted zone, in the Meantime, The Force the Deputy chief constable Rachel Swann-led force in keeping the People in Whaley Bridge is safe and the government to update The State of The Emergency .

your working day, starting at 05:00 and was almost Every Day after midnight.

"It was a massive operation, I don't think likes of which we have seen for many years," She Said .

Ms Swann co-ordinated the evacuation, reassuring residents and try to convince.

you and your managers knocked again and again, went into the restricted zone, to the People , the doors and trying to convince People to go.

"Every time, if I was The Officer , the evacuation zone, I put your life in danger," She Said . "If The Dam was Gone , it would have been a disaster.

"when was failure of The Dam , you could literally fail you see before you would have died your Eyes People . "

The firefighters, Gavin Tomlinson-washing has overlooked the pumping of Water from the Reservoir by The Fire Department, The Fire Department had a simple task to break in Some respects: pump Water from the Reservoir before the pressure of The Dam together, removed the houses, shops and school in the way of Water .

But when they arrived, they could immediately see that she needed help.

"My first thought was: 'we are not going to be able to do this alone,'" says Gavin Tomlinson, assistant chief fire officer for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service.

"We have a high volume pump in Derbyshire. We needed 10. "

around 450 firefighters Bridge have been involved in Whaley Within 24 hours, pumping of Wales and the West of Yorkshire, who arrived with a six-person crew. Mr Tomlinson says almost the entire contents of the Reservoir round 1. 5 million tons of Water needed to be emptied.

But also the pumps, the Water was a challenge.

A road to be built had to rescue' makeshift command center in Whaley Bridge AFC sports ground, over a small area, and several hedges to the Reservoir .

The firefighters used a 10 high volume pumps "This incident could not have Gone better for us," said Mr. Tomlinson said, his face now tanned from 16-hour days on-site.

"they told us, 8m (26ft) of Water , and we said it would take a week. But after Five Days we have 9. 5m (31ft), so we have to be ahead of The Curve .

"is This a blueprint for the country, as it happens with anything like this again. Hopefully it is only a one-time thing. "

The Wing Commander , Wing Cdr Gary Lane , the military response coordinated Three things had to be done to save the Best.

firstly, get The Canal Trust are in the vicinity of the bays to stop more Water flowing in the Reservoir . Secondly, empty the Reservoir , which has The Fire Department. Finally, on the coast until you reach The Dam wall, which fell on the RAF.

If there is to be a defining sound of The Crisis , it must be safe, roaring engines and the Air Force Chinook helicopter from 18 squadron based at Raf Odiham in Hampshire.

From 05:00 on Friday until Tuesday in the afternoon, the "Chinook," the collected bags of aggregate from The Top of a hill, five miles (8 km) away, and slowly they fell in The Breach in The Dam wall.

The "Chinook" of the rotor blades as close as 3m (9 ft) in the metal bridge at one time, More Than 450 bags, each weighing a ton, to have been placed with precision in the concrete, a gap of a helicopter, its rotor blades whirling just 3m (9ft) made of a metal bridge.

"I don't think it would be much more difficult than that," says Wing Cdr Gary Lane .

"The safety margins are best. "

residents maintain a sense of Humor, in spite of the impending disaster, It is all done with the eye, with the three crew members and two pilots on Board, all have spent hours training yourself to recognize finite distances.

whaley bridge, derbyshire fire and rescue service, long reads, high peak borough council, derbyshire county council, derbyshire constabulary, whaley bridge dam

Source of news: bbc.com