PETALING JAYA: Malaysians in Britain have not been spared in what is described as one of the worst storms to hit the island in many years.
Student Sharlyn J. Edmund, who is studying criminology at Aberystwyth University in Wales, said that the area was lashed with strong winds in the past few days.
The weather’s been pretty bad everywhere in the country. It’s scary,” she said yesterday.
Postgraduate student Shariha Roseley, 25, from the University of Leeds, said heavy rain had been falling in her area for two to three days.
“The weather was cold and windy when I travelled to Oxford a fortnight ago. It is certainly the worst (storm) I’ve seen for the past few years,” she said.
Ainaa Azhar, a Malaysian student based in Bath, said that she had to reschedule her plans due to disrupted train service in the morning.
“Rubbish bins and trees were blown away. I and other students have been advised not to travel too far at this time,” he added.
Rachel Tan Ju-Ai, 21, a mechanical engineering student at Imperial College London, said that trees had fallen down in some areas in London.
“It is truly scary but I hope the storm will subside soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, the 70,000 Malaysians in Britain are safe following the major storm that hit the southwestern part of the country, said Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Britain Datuk Seri Zakaria Sulong.
He said the more than 1,000 Malaysian students in the most affected areas of Cardiff and Swansea in Wales and Bristol remained safe.
“Winds were blowing up to 160kph,” he told Malaysian reporters here yesterday.
Zakaria said that the storm is expected to head to Dover soon before moving on to Denmark.
He urged Malaysians in Britain to register with the High Commission for officials to provide assistance to them.
About 14,500 of the 70,000 Malaysians in Britain are students.
Zakaria said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had expressed his disappointment at not being able to travel to Manchester due to the storm.
“He was disappointed at not being able to go to there as he had never been in Manchester. He had wanted to meet the Malaysian community living there,” he added.
– THE STAR
