Storms spawn tornado, kill 1 in northern Germany

Storms in northern Germany killed a man in Hamburg and spawned a tornado that caused many millions of euros in damage in a town near Rostock.

Winds up to 100 kilometres per hour and heavy rain felled trees onto streets and cars Tuesday night in Hamburg. A 26-year-old was killed by a falling canopy at the Fish Market, and three people were trapped in a truck, a fire department spokesman said.

One of the hardest hit spots was Buetzow, where a tornado struck late Tuesday. Thirty people were injured there by flying debris, Sebastian Constien, an official with the local government, said Wednesday. Residents described a tornado that raged 10 minutes.

The centre of the town was closed to allow emergency crews to remove debris from the streets.

Its town hall was heavily damaged. Many houses lost their roofs, and three houses were evacuated overnight because they were in danger of collapsing. No cars in the centre of Buetzow were left undamaged.

Constien said Wednesday that the town of 7,600 people had not seen a comparable catastrophe since fires burned the centre of Buetzow in the middle of the 18th century.

Three container ships in Hamburg broke free from a dock. They rammed one another, causing damage, and tugboats had to be sent out to bring them back to the wharf, a police spokesman said.

Emergency crews were dispatched across northern Germany to clear the debris and remove fallen trees that were blocking roads. The cleanup was completed by Wednesday morning in Bremen, Luebeck, Oldenburg and Stade.

Two sports halls designated as emergency shelters were too heavily damaged to be used by people affected by the storm. Some houses were so heavily damaged that their residents weren't expected to be able to return to them until the weekend.

About 300 passengers on a train in Bremen were forced to make an emergency stop because a tree had fallen across its overhead lines. The fire department there had declared a state of emergency in the centre of the city until late Tuesday.

Heavy rains flowed into the Holsten Gate, a city gate on the western edge of the old centre of the Hanseatic city of Luebeck and flooded parts of the museum housed there.

A crane at a wharf in Luebeck also collapsed on a container ship.