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| Two girls under gathering heavy clouds near Frankfurt, Feb. 28, 2010. Storm "Xynthia" caused serious damage to Germany, resulting in sectional disruption of rail and flight traffic. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
BERLIN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- A fierce storm swept western Germany Sunday amid gusts of over 100 kilometers per hour, at least 3 people killed, many trees toppled and hundreds of flights and trains suspended.
Dubbed "Xynthia," the Atlantic storm moved into Germany from north-eastern France, with hurricane-strength winds, causing weather services to issue an emergency warning for the western and southwestern parts of the country.
A man of his 70s was killed when a tree fell on his car in the Black Forest, and a 70-year-old woman driver was also killed by falling trees, police said.
Another woman was crushed by a tree amid the storm as she was jogging in a woods in the western town of Bergheim, police said.
In the southwest city of Karsruhe, some policemen were lightly injured when a tree crashed down on their trucks.
The Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest airport, had to canceled at least 200 flights due to the sweeping winds up to 130 kilometers per hour, a spokesman said.
Frankfurt's central train station, one of the busiest transportation hub in Germany, were forced to close temporarily. In south and west Germany, most of regional and long-distance train services were suspended.
Violent storms have been shaking western Europe since Friday night, until now killing at least 51 people and leaving more than a million households without electricity across the continent. France was the hardest hit, with some 40 people killed and several people still missing.
