A wave of destruction across Saddleworth and beyond

Emergency services and other organisations including the military at Dovestone Reservoir

Reporter: Stuart Littleford

Imagine if you can a huge powerful jet of water spraying out skywards at high pressure from a large crack in the retaining wall of Dovestone Reservoir in Greenfield, the damage has been caused by prolonged heavy rain and flooding in the area.

The situation is getting worse all the time as the crack is getting larger by the minute, the surrounding concrete is beginning to perish and splinter allowing even more water to escape, loud snaps and bangs are heard as the concrete disintegrates.

The pressure is now too much for the now fragile wall to withstand, the first emergency services called to the scene are very worried, if it isn’t stopped soon or the water pressure reduced a major disaster could be on the horizon for Saddleworth.

According to emerging local media reports the emergency services who initially attended the incident are now being supported by the Oldham Mountain Rescue Team, United Utilities, Environment Agency officers, volunteers and many other partner agencies.

They are all frantically working together to try and stabilise the situation and prevent a catastrophic breach of the reservoir, a breach that would see thousands of cubic metres of water unleashed into the valley below sending a huge tidal wave towards Greenfield, wreaking havoc and destruction all the way along its path.

Police have now closed off most of the roads in the area, the schools are empty, pubs and cafes are closed, bus and train services have ceased and police and community volunteers are hurriedly helping vulnerable people from their homes.

A sense of fear and anxiety has taken over the thriving Saddleworth community and its normally busy villages are now eerily quiet and deserted – you can almost hear a pin drop.

This is now a serious matter, so much so that the government has convened a meeting of its emergency COBRA committee in London, the reality of the situation is becoming apparent.

The committee decide to call in the military to assist with the on-going situation, and as a consequence the RAF are asked to deploy Chinook helicopters to transfer high volume water pumps up to the Dovestone area in an effort to help elevate water pressure inside the reservoir.

Authorisation is also given for troops to be placed on standby to assist on the ground if required.

Police community support officers have already evacuated most of the local residents in harm’s way and members of the local community have rallied round to help those evacuated from their homes.

Oldham council’s Emergency Response Team along with Saddleworth Parish Council are providing temporary accommodation and facilities in areas deemed safe for those affected.

After a few hours it is believed a total breach of the reservoir wall is now imminent and can’t be prevented despite the valiant efforts of all those involved, the concern now is that it won’t just be parts of Saddleworth destroyed by the huge tidal wave of water there will be disastrous consequences for parts of Mossley, Stalybridge and Ashton-u-Lyne who are all now making their own emergency evacuation plans.

Thankfully though, all the events described above were just part of a worst case scenario played out by the emergency services and other organisations as they took part of in Exercise Triton II at Dovestone Reservoir yesterday – the biggest live exercise of its kind ever held in the Greater Manchester region.

The complex scenario used was designed to test how local authorities, emergency services and other partners are equipped to tackle a major emergency working together.

The exercise started on Monday 11 July with — with warnings from the Met Office regarding adverse weather and from the Environment Agency about the growing risk of regional flooding.

The emergency services and partners put procedures in place to ensure that where possible properties and critical infrastructure were protected and the public were warned. This theme was carried on through Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 July 2016.

Then finally to ensure that both players and plans were tested to their full a scenario developed on Thursday 14 July whereby the bank on the Dovestone Reservoir was breached and water cascaded through a number of boroughs within Greater Manchester.

Paul Argyle, Chair of Greater Manchester Resilience Forum, said: “Exercise Triton II was a hugely complex emergency planning exercise and I would like to thank all of the agencies that have taken part this week.

“This was a very detailed scenario which had impacts across every part of the region and necessitated a full range of partners taking part.

“The scale of the destruction and chaos in this the exercise was deliberately designed to test the region at full stretch.

“We have to do this to ensure we are well prepared to deal with any future real-life event or disaster that might occur – and it is also invaluable that those taking part got the chance to practise essential response skills that are would be used during a major incident like this.”

John O’Hare, Assistant chief Constable of Greater Manchester police who attended the exercise, told Saddleworth news: “Greater Manchester police would be assisting with road closures and keeping people informed on what would be happening in the area.

“The fire brigade would play a major part in the operation with their rescue and pumping capabilities.

“The Royal Air Force would be supporting us with their heavy lifting capabilities along with the Environment Agency, Oldham Mountain Rescue Team, the Met Office and many government agencies

“The worst scenario would be a total breach of the reservoir that would result in large flooding of the area and a huge influx of water into Greater Manchester’s waterways that would affect around five different local authorities.

“I am confident that the plans we have in place are robust and relevant, but we have to reassure ourselves of that by actually testing these, and that is what we are doing today.”

RAF wing commander, Gary Lane, who is regional liaison officer for the North West, told Saddleworth news they wanted to take part in the exercise to “build on their skills used in previous flood situations and to assist other agencies with their activities”.

Gary explained: “We have brought a Chinook helicopter and members of our RAF Mountain Rescue Team with us today and from a military point of view we have troops here from 2 Mercian Regiment who are barrier building.

“We will have a Merlin from the Royal Navy here later and we are here today looking at a worst case scenario.”

Justin Parkinson, from Oldham Mountain Rescue Team, told us: “The team would help to play a vital role any emergency involving the reservoir and our volunteer members are well placed to deal with any tasks required of them, especially with their local area knowledge and rigorous training.”

Paul Argyle added: “I would particularly like to thank all the volunteers who took part in this exercise.

“The patience and understanding of local residents and communities on Thursday – as response plans went into effect at ‘live’ sites on Thursday – was also greatly appreciated.”

Around 36 organisations across the region and nationally took part in this major emergency planning exercise.

Another part of the exercise Triton II was held at Hollingworth Lake in Littleborough yesterday afternoon.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

If you would like to share an interesting story, achievement, photo or something you just want to happily shout about please send it in an email to hello@saddleworthlife.com We'd ❤ to hear from you!!