Parts of the dam at Braskereidfoss began to collapse after it flooded earlier on Wednesday. Public broadcaster NRK reports that the dam started to collapse at 4:30pm.

The power plant flooded after a floodgate at the facility failed, and the dam began to overflow.  Police had earlier considered a controlled blast to try and improve water flow but ruled the option out.  

“You can see that the damage from a possible explosion… would be so great that it would serve no purpose,” Fredrik Thomson from Innlandet police said. 

In addition to the police, a bomb squad from the Norwegian Armed Forces and crisis staff attended the scene. 

Police fear that the bridge at Braskereidfoss could collapse. If the dam were to burst completely, Merete Hjertø, operations leader of the Innlandet police district, said there would be no danger to residents. 

The Braskereidfoss plant is in Våler municipality in Innlandet, about 30km south of Elverum. The plant is located on the river Glomma. 

Hjertø said that everyone who needs to be evacuated has been. Norwegian newspaper VG reports that 10-15 homes have been evacuated.  

Norway’s justice and emergency preparedness minister, Emilie Enger Mehl, also attended the scene at Braskereidfoss.

“I am grateful to everyone who is working now to limit the damage and to prepare for what could happen if the dam were to burst or if there was a greater flow of water,” Mehl told reporters.