Travelers in Germany ahead of Christmas faced disruptions as a storm swept across northern Europe, bringing down trees and triggering flood warnings along the North Sea coast.
German national railway company Deutsche Bahn said there were cancellations on routes from Hamburg and Hanover to Frankfurt and Munich, while long-distance services from Hamburg north to Kiel and Flensburg were not operating, among other disruptions.
The company said fallen trees had caused extensive damage to overhead power lines or blocked tracks in northern Germany, but also in the central state of Hesse.
Some delays occurred late Thursday at Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest airport, although there were no cancellations due to the storm, and the airport operator said operations were back to normal on Friday morning.
In Hamburg, the Elbe River flooded streets around the city’s fish market, where water reached waist height in some places.
German authorities warned of waves up to 3 meters (about 10 feet) or more above average high tide in parts of the North Sea coast on Friday.
In Oudernaarde, western Belgium, a 20-meter (65-foot) Christmas tree collapsed onto three people at a crowded market late Thursday, killing a 63-year-old woman and injuring two others.
“The wind and heavy rain caused the tree to collapse,” said Mayor Marnik De Molenmeister. The Christmas market was canceled immediately.
In the Netherlands, water flooded streets around ports overnight in some North Sea towns including Scheveningen, a coastal suburb of The Hague.
Away from the coast, a woman was reportedly seriously injured Thursday by a falling tree in the eastern town of Wehl, and the huge storm barrier that protects Rotterdam from rising sea levels was automatically closed for the first time due to rising water levels – meaning that all six main storm barriers that protect the Netherlands were closed at the same time.
