BERLIN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Train services in a large area of northern and central Germany were suspended on Sunday morning as a powerful storm codenamed "Herwart" raged across the country, tearing down trees, scaffolds and other infrastructure facilities.
The fire brigade in Berlin has entered the state of emergency and has mobilized all volunteer fire brigades in the capital city. Firefighters were called to 100 deployments on Sunday morning within three hours. There are no reports of casualty or injury, according to the German news agency DPA.
The DPA reported that because of Herwart -- the year's third autumn storm, train services were suspended in northern and central Germany. Virtually all routes in the federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have been affected. Services of railway transportation from other regions into these areas ended prematurely.
The Hamburg fire brigade were called to 170 deployments by Sunday morning, and the coastal region of the city is under the threat of flooding.
The German Weather Service warned Saturday that Herwart was going to sweep across Germany during the night and on Sunday morning, with the highest speed reaching a hurricane level of 120 km/h or higher on the northern coast.
