Kenyan in UK narrates Storm Eunice ordeal with a Covid-19 positive roommate

A Kenyan based in the UK has narrated his experience during the Storm Eunice, as his roommate suffered from Covid-19.

Storm Eunice severely affected the transport network as the storm lashed the UK for the better part of the weekend.

BBC reported that about 200,000 homes suffered power outages, as high winds led to school closures, flight cancellations, and stay-at-home warnings across the country.

Kenneth Ramah, a Crisis & Disaster Management student in the UK told The Standard that the storm prompted the issuance of a Red alert (the highest of alerts).

He added that the last red alert for a storm was issued 30 years ago.

‘I am okay. I went to the train station to travel but all trains were cancelled. Storm Eunice has been ripping the UK today. All transport is suspended until further notice. We are staying indoors,” he told The Standard on Friday at 9:30 pm.

He also said they had to stay home and watch one of his roommates who had tested positive for Covid-19 a few days ago.

“No one around me has been hurt apart from one of my roommates who has Covid-19. He is fine. Just a mild running nose. The 10-day-mandatory self-isolation was lifted so the moment he tests negative he can end isolation,” he said.

He has also told The Standard that by the time he was going to bed on Thursday night, the weather was normal but slightly windy.

“When I woke up on Friday morning, the situation had gotten worse, I could not go about my normal errands. I had no otherwise but to stay indoors like everybody else,” Ramah added.

As of Friday at 10 pm, he added, the wind speeds had fallen to around 40 kilometres per hour from 120 kilometres per hour earlier.

“Walking outside was an extreme sport,” he said.

According to Ramah, Authorities had issued a series of warnings since Wednesday. The warnings escalated on Thursday.

When asked how they were feeding, he said nearby supermarkets were left open and were serving clients normally.

“The supermarket is open and not very far from my residence but I have food in the house so no cause for alarm,” Ramah said.

As of Saturday night, Ramah told The Standard that the storm had passed and calm restored although the streets were messy, dustbins were thrown all over. The streets were full of trash

“We are happy it's gone. Though travel is still a bit hard. Trees fell on roads and rail tracks so will take a better part of today to resume normalcy,” he said.

Euro News, a Paris-based publication has reported that on Sunday, much of northwestern Europe is counting the cost of Storm Eunice.

This was after it swept onto the continent from the British Isles, leaving death and destruction in its wake as well as massive power cuts.

As of Saturday night, 16 deaths (mainly caused by trees falling on vehicles) had been reported: four in the Netherlands, four in Poland, three in England, two in Germany, two in Belgium, and one in Ireland.

According to the publication, the storm developed in Ireland, passed on Friday parts of the United Kingdom then northern France and the Benelux countries, before continuing its route towards Denmark and Germany.

The storm struck a large part of northern Germany, where a state of red alert was declared before being lifted later.

More than 1,000 kilometres of railway lines were damaged, a spokesperson for Deutsche Bahn said, mainly caused by fallen trees.