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Storm »Ignatz« also hit Hamburg: Trees in the Steilshoop district fell
Photo: Steven Hutchings / dpa
"Ignatz" is there.
The first violent autumn storm of the year has been sweeping through Germany since last night - and causes damage.
Trees fell in many places, rail traffic is impaired and warnings are issued on the North Sea of a storm surge.
Deutsche Bahn stopped long-distance traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The measure was temporarily due to storm damage, said the railway.
The Saarland, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and parts of Saxony are particularly affected.
There are train cancellations and delays.
"Hundreds of employees are working to clear trees and other obstacles from the tracks, to repair overhead lines and to record damage," said a spokeswoman.
Passengers who want to postpone their trip due to the storm can redeem their booked ticket immediately up to and including seven days after the disruption has ended.
In Bavaria trees crashed on railroad tracks.
Especially on the ICE route between Würzburg and Nuremberg there are problems, it said from the railway.
Fear of storm surge
The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency warned of a storm surge in the North Sea and in the Weser and Elbe regions.
The afternoon and evening floods on Thursday on the North Sea coast will be up to 1.50 meters higher than the mean flood.
In the Weser and Elbe areas it will occur about 1.50 meters above the mean flood, it said.
Further storm surges on Friday cannot be ruled out.
The apex in Hamburg-St.-Pauli should be reached shortly after 6 p.m. on Thursday.
There were also some disabilities on the streets.
At Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Rhine bridge on Autobahn 61 was closed in the morning because of trucks standing across, according to the police.
According to the police, a gust had allegedly hit a truck trailer and overturned.
As a result, several trucks stood across.
According to the fire and rescue services, trees were uprooted and toppled in many places.
In Hamburg a tree fell on a car and a four-story family house, nobody was injured.
In Berlin, the fire brigade declared a state of emergency, several people are said to be trapped in cars under trees.
There was also property damage elsewhere.
The fire brigade in Dortmund reported that a falling tree had damaged five parked cars.
In total, there were almost 50 storm-related missions in the city in the morning.
In Saarland and Hesse, roads were closed because of fallen trees.
Osnabrück Zoo closed
The zoo in Osnabrück decided that the gates would remain closed on Thursday.
In view of the announced squalls, the zoo does not want to endanger the health of visitors and animals.
The animals should stay in the stables if possible.
The German Weather Service (DWD) tightened its storm warnings during the night for a wide strip in the middle of the country, over which the center of the storm bottom moved.
From Saarland via Rhineland-Palatinate and parts of Hesse, Northern Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg to Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, there is a storm warning due to gale-force gusts.
There are also warnings for high altitudes in low mountain ranges such as the Ore Mountains.
In the rest of the country, according to the meteorologists, storms of up to 80 kilometers per hour were also to be expected, in the northern half partly also in connection with thunderstorms and local hurricane gusts.
In theory, "short-lived tornadoes" are also possible, explained the DWD.
A comprehensive underweather warning did not exist, however.
The storm should gradually subside from the west on Thursday afternoon.
ptz / AFP / dpa