Students react to the UK storm

Warwick University and the surrounding areas of Warwickshire managed to escape the threat of the UK storm last week.

St. Jude meanwhile caused four deaths in Britain, destroyed parts of the infrastructure and left thousands of homes without power.

According to the Coventry Telegraph, the flooding of several roads and country lanes caused rush-hour travel chaos across the region on Monday morning.

Moreover, Royal Mail had some problems delivering letters and parcels on time.

In contrast to this, Chris Child, marketing manager of Stagecoach Midlands, alleged that the “Unibus service was, fortunately, unaffected by the storm”.

Students travelling back from London were less lucky. First-year PPE student Katerina Nikalexi said: “I had been waiting in Euston for more than three hours for a train to arrive – and when one did, I had a two-hour long journey standing still.

“The fun fact is that I was among the lucky ones, as so many people were not allowed to enter as there was no space available for any more passengers!”

In general, students did not feel threatened by the storm.

Nandini Arora, a third-year Economics student, said: “The storm did not affect me much. Since we are so far from the coast it didn’t seem like it reached us. However, one class was cancelled because the warnings said it would be severe.”

The University issued warnings in advance, giving regular updates on the situation and assuring teaching staff that they might cancel lectures if they felt unable to travel to work safely.

David Brown, a first-year German and French student felt relieved due to the warnings: “I could prepare for the storm in advance, for example, by looking for my winter coat.”

Svenja Köstner, a third-year English Literature and Maths student, saw the warning in the context of her very positive experience at Warwick: “I really appreciate that the University has issued warnings in advance.

“Warwick University really cares about its students which can be seen not only in the societies that welcome you most warmly or in its care about your accommodation, but also in such small things as storm warnings.”