Hurricane low »Zeynep«: Rail traffic in Germany continues to be severely affected

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ICE in Hanover train station: Local and long-distance traffic is currently not working in many places

Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa

Storm low "Zeynep" has moved east, but rail traffic in Germany remains massively restricted.

"North of Dortmund, Hanover, Berlin no long-distance trains can run, not even between Berlin and Halle-Leipzig," said railway spokesman Achim Stauss at noon in Berlin.

Likewise, regional traffic in northern Germany “cannot take place across the board”.

There will be train cancellations at least for the entire day.

The storms of the past few days have "severely affected and damaged more than a thousand kilometers of railways in Germany," Stauss said.

Around 2,000 emergency services are working "around the clock" to free routes from fallen trees or fallen branches or to repair damaged overhead lines.

Helicopters are also used "to explore routes and determine whether safe rail operations are possible again".

However, there is still no complete overview of the extent of the damage, said the spokesman.

“We are doing everything we can to gradually resume train traffic as quickly as possible.” It is already clear “that many routes in the north will not be passable again during the day,” Strauss restricted.

BER passengers can only fly with hand luggage

Deutsche Bahn again asked all passengers to "postpone planned trips to the storm regions if possible".

Travelers outside of these regions would also have to be prepared for disruptions and should find out about the selected connection before starting their journey.

The spokesman referred to goodwill regulations, according to which tickets already purchased can be canceled free of charge or used flexibly until the end of next week.

There were also further delays in handling at Berlin Airport BER on Saturday.

"There were no flights canceled because of the storm, and there were some flight delays," said an airport spokesman.

"And there are still problems in the handling operations."

Due to the high wind speeds, it is still the case that luggage is often not loaded or unloaded from the aircraft.

»Passengers only fly with hand luggage.«

Two dead in NRW

In many places, however, it did not stop with traffic obstructions.

Several people died in Germany, there were injuries and high property damage.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) assumes two storm deaths in his state.

As a spokeswoman said, it was a driver on the federal highway 54 near Altenberge in the Steinfurt district, whose car had been hit by a tree.

According to preliminary findings, the second storm victim was a 17-year-old passenger who had been traveling with two people of the same age in Hopsten in the Steinfurt district.

According to the police, the driver may have avoided a branch and thus left the roadway.

According to the police, a man who wanted to repair the damaged roof of a stable during the storm died in the Lower Saxony municipality of Wurster Nordseekueste on Saturday night.

The 68-year-old broke through the roof and fell about ten meters down.

Historic windmill destroyed

»Zeynep« also blew down the highest post windmill in Germany.

At the historic windmill in the Weimarer Land, the central beam on which the mill house stood broke on Saturday night, as the mayor of the municipality of Klettbach, Franziska Hildebrandt, said.

»The mill is our landmark.

This situation initially creates a bit of speechlessness.«

Post mills are the oldest type of windmill in Europe.

The entire mill house stands on a single central pole, on which the mill can be turned into the wind.

That beam is now broken.

"Antonia" could hit Germany on Monday

The series of severe storms will not stop for the time being.

"As early as Sunday, the series of storms will pick up speed again as the next storm depression 'Antonia' approaches," says Adrian Leyser from the weather forecast center of the German Weather Service (DWD).

Monday will also remain stormy, and the weather will only calm down a bit on Tuesday.

On the night of Sunday there will be some rain from north-west to south-east.

Sometimes there can also be some snow mixed in, preferably in the mountains.

The wind will also freshen up again, especially in the middle and in the south, with gusts ranging from strong to stormy.

“Antonia” should already reach the sea area between Scotland and Iceland on Sunday – and the North Sea and southern Sweden on Monday night.

The storm field is located on the southern flank of the depression and is gradually affecting all of Germany from the west.

Apr/AFP/dpa