Train travel in north Germany was still affected on Tuesday despite the storm passing. No trains were running between Hamburg and Kiel and the S-Bahn system in Hamburg was also affected. In Schleswig-Holstein schools are closed.

The first big storm of the autumn has killed at least seven people in Germany since Sunday and 14 across northern Europe.

Winds were so strong – reaching 191 km/h – they knocked over containers on the docks in the port of Bremerhaven.     

In Gelsenkirchen a 39-year-old and his 11-year-old niece died when a beech tree fell onto their Volkswagen Golf.

In Schortens in Lower Saxony and Flensburg two drivers were also killed by falling trees.

Meanwhile a 61-year-old man died in Lower Saxony when his car hit a tree. In Schleswig-Holstein a woman, 66, was also killed on Monday when a wall fell on her, the Bild newspaper reported.

A sailor died near Cologne on Sunday when his boat capsized on a lake and an angler also drowned when his boat was tipped over by strong waves in west Germany.

See photos of the storms here

Planes towards Scandinavia were grounded out of Hamburg airport on Monday afternoon and flights from Düsseldorf to Hamburg were also cancelled.

Meanwhile, strong winds ripped off a facade from the front of a university building as far south as Göttingen, Lower Saxony, smashing several cars.

The worst of the storm has passed and better weather is now expected. 

DPA