Netherlands Deadly gales halt trains and flights across north-west Europe Storm lashes Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and parts of UK, uprooting power lines and trees, and killing at least seven people A crash during heavy storms near Erfurt, central Germany. Photograph: Jens Meyer/APViolent gales have battered north-west Europe, killing at least seven people, toppling trees and trucks, bringing down power lines, grounding aircraft and halting road and rail traffic across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Europe’s busiest cargo port was “virtually unreachable from the north” because of traffic holdups on three of the main motorways into the city, the national traffic service VID said. The Belgian port of Ghent was temporarily closed, and a woman was killed near Brussels when her car was crushed by a falling tree. Overhead power lines supplying trains were damaged and trees brought crashing on to tracks, causing severe delays for thousands of commuters.

Source: The Guardian January 18, 2018 11:21 UTC