this is bbc news, i'm chris rogers. the headlines at 7pm: more homes are evacuated as emergency workers race against time to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the damaged dam in whaley bridge amid fears of more storms. residents were allowed to return to their homes for 15 minutes today to pick up essentials. i did have to walk up the road last night and just scream because i did face what i could lose. police in hong kong have used tear gas and baton charges against pro—democracy demonstrators as they demonstrated for the ninth weekend in a row. police have turned up here. these

are the serious right police. they have dressed in black and come in fa st have dressed in black and come in fast and hard. talks aimed at averting strikes by thousands of heathrow airport workers are adjourned for the day and will resume tomorrow. more than 170 flights scheduled for monday and tuesday have been cancelled. and coming up in sportsday in half an hour, we'll have the latest from birmingham as england take control of the first ashes test at edgbaston. efforts are continuing in derbyshire to shore up a dam that's in danger of collapse right next to the town of whaley bridge. the emergency services are moving swiftly to try to pump water out of the toddbrook reservoir with more wet weather forecast for tomorrow. today, some whaley bridge residents, who'd spent a second night

away from their homes, were allowed to return to collect essential items. charlotte gallagher is at the scene for us this evening and sent this report. an raf chinook helicopter picks up bags of aggregate. this is the third day of operations to save a dam and the town of whaley bridge. here, a crew member leans out to make sure the sandbags are dropped in exactly the right place. the chinook still a strange sight in this small town. these fire crews and pumps are working 2a hours a day to divert the 300 million gallons of water in the reservoir. we were here early hours on friday from west yorkshire. and if you pan across, you can see the brick level, of the stones. that was underwater when we arrived. so, as you can see, it's

quite visibly come down. this is a major incident, make no mistake. whaley bridge would normally be packed on a summer holiday saturday, but today, it's a ghost town. people who were forced to leave their homes are being allowed to return forjust 15 minutes to collect valuables, medication and even their grandchildren‘s toys. we were advised by police that we are going in at our own risk. and, yes, all right, it's a calculated risk, really, we knew we needed to get things, we knew we had to do things, and as long as you moved quickly, and i would say listen all the time. because they told us if we hear three blasts of a horn, we were tojust run. i did have to walk up the road last night and just scream because i did face what i could lose. this family had to leave their home and the guest they run, an adventure for the children,

less so for the and parents. i had builders who had to get out quick. just not knowing when i can open back up and take bookings. i've had to advise people that we are closed for the foreseeable future. police are using patrols and a drone to monitor the evacuation zone, and a government minister visited today to give more reassurances. i want to thank the residents. it is imperative that we keep them safe. that's the only reason why they're out of their homes. and i would also reassure them. i know the police are taking very seriously the need to keep their home secure. people have been coming down to the dam all day, but it could be a while before they're able to say goodbye to the rescue teams for good. we can now speak to charlotte at

whaley bridge and also will bring you some latest live pictures coming from the scene. to what extent should we read into the fact that more people have been evacuated and there is a prediction of some stormy weather on the way? how worried the public be? i think a lot of people obviously in this area are incredibly concerned. as you segment 55 more houses need to be evacuated. the police are ordering an evaluation of an area near here called porridge and a people living there are being told they can go to rest centres that will be set up for them. if they cannot get to their friends orfamily them. if they cannot get to their friends or family or hotels. people here have been allowed into the town as you saw for a few minutes here to collect their valuables but it could be days or even a week until they are back in their homes for good. now you did mention the weather and there is a concern here it's been really dry and sunny all day today.

the rain is starting a little bit. we are getting a few spots of rain but the concern is for tomorrow. the met office have issued a yellow warning for a storm. and there are fears that all the work that has been done to pump the water out of the reservoir, that could be undone if we get a really heavy storm like we have it done earlier this week. now the emergency services engineers and military will be working throughout the night here to try and pump as much water as they can out of this reservoir and also fix that pa rt of this reservoir and also fix that part of the dam wall which has broken was up if you can see behind me, you may be able to see some of the people in itjackets on that bridge. just below them is that section of the dam which is damaged and they par people will have seen on tv with the helicopter dropping sandbags onto it. and we are seeing lots of directors going past of the moment with even more materials attempting to patch this down up. bob is late there will be a bigger rebuild other in the future but at

this point, they need to make it safe so those homes and businesses below the dam are not engulfed by 300 millions gallons of water which is in this reservoir was a bit is incredibly dangerous but the emergency services do seem confident that they are on top of these situation. you spare a thought for the residents given 15 minutes to collect their belongings from their homes. no doubt they were notjust split enclosing an overnight bag, probably photos, mementos, things they fear they may lose forever. a very stressful time for residents and no doubt asking questions. i don't know how much of a feel you've got about it about the safety of this dam but the safety of other dams perhaps as well. well, yes commit because this dam was built in victorian times, as were a lot of dams throughout the uk. and perhaps many did not realise one that they we re many did not realise one that they were that old and too that they were

maintained by a charity. so i think there is a lot of questions about other dams. should they be looked at and i'm sure the environment agency will be looking at dams across the country to make sure they are safe in case they get deluged with rainwater and more storms,. and as you sigma people have 50 minutes to get into town, grab what they can and come back. the lady we spoke to was getting her grandchild ren's and come back. the lady we spoke to was getting her grandchildren's toys and clothes and essentials. we spoke to one man who had to rescue his para bles to one man who had to rescue his parables of the could not get out of the house when he was first ordered to leave early this week so he went down earlier today and rescued his animal. but yeah there are people concerned, medication, jewellery, heirlooms, photo albums, all the kind of things that cannot be replaced if their homes were to be flooded. but i have to say despite the very stressful situation here people have been incredibly positive. a lot of them have been saying to me the one thing they want

to get out of there is how much respect they have for the emergency services and how much admiration they have for the work they have been doing and they say they have been doing and they say they have been treating them so well. i took to one family who were coming off on holiday and a fire crew actually offered to carry all their luggage up offered to carry all their luggage up to the top of the hill because they had young children, suitcases, carry your bags and toys to the fire crew help them get away on holiday. so there is a real sense of a unity pulling together and people coming out and making tea for the emergency services and even journalists which is unusual. so it is a real positive atmosphere down here despite obviously the real danger of that down bursting. charlotte, many thanks for that update from the scene thanks for that update from the scene and insight. you heard her talking about the local residents are showing and expressing their admiration for the emergency services and among them the raf trying to make that down secure and trying to make that down secure and trying to make that down secure and trying to plug that huge hole.

our reporter luxmy gopal has been in whaley bridge all day, and earlier told us the raf had nearly completed their day's work there's just the last few drops to go, and just a few seconds ago, we heard the thundering noise of a chinook over our heads, so they are nearly at the end of that job for today. just a few more drops to go, and i'm joined now by raf wing commander john coles. tell me a bit about the work the raf has been doing to keep the dam firm? very much a joint effort. army personnel are sitting in the headquarters and are liaising with the police silver level who are putting requests in. the most obvious is the chinook helicopter, which has had a near continuous stream of aircraft coming in since early friday morning. equally supported by a joint helicopter support squadron, which is made of army and raf personnel who are up on the hill lifting the bags of aggregate and hooking it onto the bottom of aircraft. and then also on the ground, we've got military liaison teams from the royal logistics corps, who are providing that critical interface between the engineers, the experts on the ground who understand what the dam's

doing and then asking us what we can do for them. dropping those bags of aggregate requires such precision, like that board game operation. luckily, the chinook now has got a new digital control system that assists the pilot, there's a lot of manual skill. this is what the aircraft and the aircrew are trained to do extensively, both in operations overseas and in the uk, and particulary in this environment where we assist military authorities all the time. do you think you've done enough to keep the dam firm against the prospect of severe weather warnings ahead? that's the $64 million question everyone is asking. we are not experts in dam design or construction, so we are taking that advice from engineers who are up in the dam itself, critically understanding, so they are asking for a very precise point, literally by the foot where they want the next back to go in. the last few of which are going in this evening, so very much taking our lead from them. and the police say it remains a critical situation. how long will the raf need to be involved? the military is on standby. we have additional

chinooks back at the base. there are crews and aircraft ready and additional support personnel and additional army personnel on standby to assist the police should they require them. so we are here to be reacting to whatever request comes in for as long as we need to be. raf wing commander john coles, thank you. as i mentioned there, we've got that prospect of severe weather to come over the next 24 hours, with the met office warning of severe rains and storms, which is why the residents here have been told that they won't be able to return to their homes for good for at least another week. and in the meantime, all they can do is watch and wait and hope that the dam stays intact. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are political commentator

jo phillips and the political editor of the people & the sunday mirror, nigel nelson. hong kong police have fired tear gas at pro—democracy activists who are demonstrating for the ninth weekend in a row, despite increasingly stern warnings from china. the protests were triggered by opposition to a planned extradition law, but spread to become a wider movement for democratic reforms. the demonstrators have also called for a citywide strike on monday, which has already been backed by major businesses and unions. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent stephen mcdonnell who was amongst the protesters. well, right now, in that same area, they've managed to clean out all of the protesters as far as i can see. but the riot police are still here. they have their shields and helmets in place, and in fact, we just had another... well, group of i can't see how many vans full of riot police have turned up, given there are this many officers still here.

now, the reason for that is that although the protesters have gone, we've had local residents here heckling the riot police, so there was a large standoff here for about an hour where the riot police were in formation and protesters... well, not protesters, but local residents, many of whom have now left now that there are so many police around here, were just standing there, as i say, heckling the police. they were looking straight at them singing songs to make fun of them, asking the police tojoin in and it just shows there is a sort of general attitude from many in the community here of disrespect for the police here. they're going to have a lot of work to do to somehow regain that respect. and actually, this is interesting. the seriousness of that is that these police have turned up now here, they are the raptors, as they are called. these are the serious riot police.

they're the ones dressed in black who come in when the situation gets especially serious, and they come in fast and hard. and it could be because they were worried about the situation getting out of hand. and as i say, locals just gathering around making funof the police, just calling stuff out at them. and for that reason alone, the police have felt they can't leave here. so, stephen, where have the protesters gone now? well, i think the protesters have left. they faced, as you saw earlier, overwhelming force from the police, who came through with shield and baton charges with lots of tear gas in big numbers. they weren't able to resist. they sort of pushed them back in different directions. and for a while there, they sort of "held out", built barricades and threw the tear gas back at them, but now they seem to have drifted away. of course, they have another full day of protests tomorrow, and then what they hope

is a widespread strike the day after. so we could see many more of these street battles in the days to come. the headlines on bbc news: a further 55 homes are being evacuated in the derbyshire town of whaley bridge as efforts to repair the partially collapsed dam continue. forecasters expect more bad weather tomorrow. the hong kong police have fired tear gas at anti—government protesters as they demonstrated for the ninth weekend in a row. talks resume, aimed at averting strikes by thousands of heathrow airport workers. talks aimed at averting strike action by thousands of workers at heathrow airport next week have been adjourned for the day with no sign of agreement.

more than 150 flights scheduled for monday and tuesday have already cancelled after the members of one union rejected a pay offer. our business correspondent katy austin has been at heathrow... another day with no pavement will between in the airport in the union means when those talks restart tomorrow morning, there'll be less than 2a hour slip before a possible strike here at the biggest airport in britain during peak holiday season. in britain during peak holiday season. those walking and will be the likes of engineers, security guards and firefighters. petro has said all along it does have contingency plans which means he could continue to operate safely but it took an early call that 177 calls —— flights repair needed to be cancelled across monday and tuesday with passengers booked on to alternative services or getting refunds from their airline. for those travelling on monday and

tuesday, if the strike goes ahead, they will see events because each residence they will beat long queues to get to securities people will need to allow a lot of time for that. as thing stank there is no imminent son of resolution being found which means a strike does not go ahead... riot police in russia have detained hundreds of protesters during disturbing scenes today in moscow. these distressing images show officers forcibly removing demonstrators who are protesting against the exclusion of opposition candidates from upcoming local elections. police in russia say 600 people have been arrested. among those being held is the prominent activist lyubov sobol, who was picked up as she left her office to join the unauthorised protests. ms sobol is a long—time ally of russia's leading opposition figure, alexei navalny, who's serving a jail sentence for encouraging the demonstrations.

our correspondent oleg boldyrev in moscow explains why protesters are taking to the streets. well, it started in earlyjuly after it became apparent that the election authorities in moscow are not leading into the race, which will happen between now and september, a bunch of prominent opposition activists who decided to contest the seats in moscow city council.