BERLIN (AP) - High winds and driving rain hit northern Germany on Thursday, killing one person with a falling tree branch, shutting down major train lines and grounding some planes.
In Lower Saxony, a 50-year-old man was killed near the town of Uelzen, south of Hamburg, when his car was hit by a tree branch, the dpa news agency reported.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn had to shut down several lines in the north of the country after strong winds blew trees and branches onto the tracks and caused other problems.
Deutsche Bahn said on Twitter that the well-traveled Hamburg-Berlin, Hamburg-Hannover, Bremen-Hannover and Hannover-Wolfsburg-Berlin lines would remain closed until the tracks could be cleared.
It hoped to reopen some open later Thursday and directed passengers to the website bahn.de for updates.
The German Weather Service issued warnings about continued high winds, strong rain, lightning and hail as a low-pressure front moves in from the west.
The city of Magdeburg lost power in some areas while some planes in Berlin were temporarily grounded at both of the capital's airports amid heavy rain.