Travelers are stuck on the train for hours, people are injured by fallen trees: On Monday a storm with stormy gusts will hit Germany. Now it's time to clean up.
Berlin - After the storm, Deutsche Bahn's long-distance traffic is mostly back to normal after major disruptions. A railway spokesman said there were only major delays between Nuremberg and Erfurt. Delays of around 75 minutes can be expected there. “Otherwise, most of the storm-related disruptions were remedied during the night and rail traffic is running stable in the morning,” said the spokesman in response to a dpa request.
A storm slowed down the railway's long-distance traffic on Monday evening, covered roofs and damaged cars as well as power and telephone lines. Several people were injured by fallen trees. Train passengers sometimes experienced delays of four hours - and had to hope all evening that their temporarily stopped trains would continue at all. Individual routes were closed and there were diversions with delays. Those affected by the disruption included Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. There were several weather-related accidents.
Injuries caused by fallen trees
In Hesse, a driver and her passenger were injured in a collision with a tree that had fallen due to the storm. The 20-year-old driver had overlooked him on the route in front of her, the police said. The accident occurred on Monday evening in the town of Alsfeld. Both car occupants were slightly injured; the 20-year-old was taken to a hospital.
In Bottrop (North Rhine-Westphalia), a 19-year-old pedestrian was injured on her way home from work when a tree suddenly fell onto the sidewalk and hit the passer-by. The young woman's legs were trapped under the tree trunk, the fire department said. In Hattingen in the Ruhr area, a man was injured in a garden by a falling tree.
In Cologne, a Kölner Verkehrs-betriebe (KVB) bus was damaged by a fallen tree. The fire department said in the evening that the driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Several fallen trees and broken branches hindered traffic in the cathedral city in the evening.
Delays at Frankfurt Central Station
A dpa reporter reported that, according to a train attendant, no more trains were running at Frankfurt Central Station. A look at the arrivals board for the train station around midnight revealed some immense delays.
In Bavaria, three people in a car suffered serious injuries when an accident occurred due to aquaplaning on the A9 on Monday evening. The car with four occupants overturned in the direction of Munich, the police said.
Fire brigade operations in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate
In Hesse, the fire brigades had dozens of operations due to squalls. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the Koblenz police headquarters reported ten cars in its region that had been damaged by falling trees or other objects. Power and telephone lines were also damaged by falling trees. In Ludwigshafen in the Palatinate, trees fell onto streets and power lines. Loose roof tiles and fallen construction fences also triggered fire brigade operations.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned on Monday evening of locally strong thunderstorms, sometimes severe squalls and widespread storms and gusts of wind. dpa