Eerie pictures of the near-deserted town of Whaley Bridge have been posted to social media after residents were forced to evacuate the town over fears the collapse of a nearby dam could flood the area.
Hanna Sillitoe filmed the village, evacuated due to a nearby dam at risk of bursting, while out running early on Friday morning – sharing a video to Twitter which shows its unnerving stillness.
BBC journalist Judith Moritz was also in the town on Friday and posted a picture next to the police cordon, saying: “This is as far as you can go on foot.
“Everything beyond this cordon is classed as the ‘red zone’.”
Another picture, posted on Instagram, gave another view of the deserted streets.
Despite expecting cordons, Moritz said there were none and she did not have to turn back, continuing on to Whaley Bridge.
Sillitoe said she and other residents of her hamlet, one kilometre away but downstream from the village, were given “conflicting advice”, with police advising evacuation but government flood warning information suggesting they were safe.
“We have livestock and horses here,” she said. “Our personal decision at present is to stay.
“If the dam goes, my cottage is in the firing line down river – we already had bad floods on Wednesday but the water has since subsided.
“What will be will be.”
Meanwhile, the RAF Chinook aircraft currently being used to shore up the stricken dam provided some surreal footage from the normally sleepy town.
The dam, feared to be on the verge of collapse, is facing a “critical” moment as the military and emergency services work to stop it bursting.
Water flowing into Toddbrook Reservoir was “reduced considerably” overnight but engineers remain “very concerned” about the integrity of the damaged 180-year-old structure, which contains around 1.3 million tonnes of water.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge over fears it could rupture and flood their homes.