The railway is long-distance traffic until Monday morning, the operation at the airports is limited. Hundreds of flights were cancelled.

Werningerode: A collection container has been tilted by the Wind on a car photo: Reuters

BOCHUM taz | trains fall down, roads are closed, flights cancelled: storm deep "Sabine" prepares millions of travelers and commuters*in all of Germany's problems. The railway has stopped its long-distance traffic until at least 10 a.m. on Monday, completely.

Also in the regional traffic it comes to massive interference: especially in North and West Germany and represented the railway companies, such as the Westphalia track, metronome, or North West railway operation. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the most trains remained on Monday morning, despite the rush-hour traffic in their accounts.

Due to fallen trees also various car were blocked cars such as the A4 near Cologne, on the A45, in the case of Hagen or the A7 near Hildesheim. At the airports, hundreds of Compounds have been deleted: Alone in Düsseldorf and Cologne, around 150 flights were.

With violent gusts, the partial have exceeded the hurricane force of 118 kilometers per hour, and heavy rain showers, the storm was pulled deep into the night over the North and West of Germany. On the Brocken in the Harz mountains, winds were measured at speeds of up to 136 kilometers per hour. In the Morning, the cold front associated with the low in the South-East of Germany is expected.

Only by luck there were no victims to death. In Mülheim at the Ruhr, a 25-metre tree fell on two people occupied car and crushed the rear area. The two occupants got out with only minor injuries to the hospital. "Would have been the vehicle only for a second later at the spot, it could have been much worse.", explained to the fire brigade.

In Saarbrücken were injured two women in a Parking lot by a falling tree hard, a life is in danger. In Paderborn, a 16 was taken-Year-old by a flying tree Branch hard. In Monschau in the Eifel and in a small part of Hamm in Westphalia, there was a power outage. In Frankfurt am Main on the boom of a Baukrans rushed to the Cathedral and get stuck in the roof of the Church. In Berlin, a scaffolding collapsed. Alone in Schleswig-Holstein, the fire Department moved to 400 storm-related operations. In Hamburg there were about 300.

off the North sea coast that had been hit by "Sabine" on Sunday evening, warns the Federal Maritime and hydrographic Agency from the danger of a storm flood with water levels up to two metres above normal zero. So that could be flooded in Hamburg, the fish market. On Sunday, various ferry services to the west - and North-Frisian Islands were interrupted.

At the railway stranded travelers were thousands. Many spent the night in trains that were to transport hubs such as Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover or Cologne ready. Disturbed the train traffic will remain for the entire day. "Journeys of discovery", which is intended to give an Overview of track damage accounted for only at the onset of day light of sense, it said. Around 50 Fireteam to work with a Vehicle and chain saws to get the tracks free again. "We expect that in the course of the Morning, first Put it again are passable," said a railway spokesperson.

On the highways, the situation remained despite the massive cancellations still relatively quiet. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the WDR Traffic center reported at 8 a.m. about 150 kilometers of traffic jams, what in the most populous state with 18 million inhabitants*of the interior as a rather below average for a Monday morning is. "Maybe some work from home today or take a vacation," speculated a spokesman for the national headquarters of the police.

Previously had met the storm, which means in English "Ciara", Western Europe, and there, too, for the problems taken care of. In Ireland, fell in about 14,000, in the UK, around 90,000 house the power to keep. In Scotland, three people in a Pub were injured as the roof collapsed partially. Also at the airports of Amsterdam, Brussels and London, hundreds of flights were canceled. (agencies)