GEORGE TOWN, Aug 10 — They were lookingforward to celebrating Aidiladha but the family’s mood dampened after strong winds damaged the roof of their unit at the Pangsapuri Mutiara Idaman 1 here, last night.

Housewife Yusliani Ali, 35, said that she and her family had planned on going back to her hometown in Selangor for the celebration, but would not be doing so because of the damage caused to her unit by last night’s storm.

She added that strong winds at about 10 pm had caused her apartment roof and ceiling to collapse and it also started leaking because of the heavy rain.

"We were fortunate that there was no one at home at that time. We had already packed our clothes together with the festive delicacies and were all set to leave this morning, but we are forced to celebrate here and to clean up,” she said.

Yusliani, who lives with her husband and two children aged 16 and 11, said last night’s incident was the third time that her unit on the 20th floor of the building, had been affected by strong winds. Last night’s storm also wreaked havoc in other parts of the island.

 "This is the worst incident since we moved here in 2003. It has damaged our furniture, electrical appliances and also our festive decorations,” she said.

Security guard Mohd Fadzli Mazlan, 32, who lives on the same floor, said he was having dinner in the living room when the entire unit started shaking and there were cracks on the walls.

"I kept shouting to my wife and children to quickly leave the house because the roof was about to collapse.

"As soon as we got out, the roof including the ceiling collapsed causing rain water to get inside.”

He said his wife, Nurul Kamsiah Samat, who operated a home-based business making cookies and cakes had to cancel orders from her customers 

"The festive cakes which were ready for delivery were also wet and damaged” he said.

He added that he suffered a loss of about RM10,000 due to the storm. — Bernama