Ground Report

Hurricane-strength winds howled across Europe over the weekend, killing 13 people and leaving a trail of destruction as cars were blown off the road, roofs were ripped off and trees fell like matchsticks. The storm, dubbed "Emma" by forecasters, brought with it winds of up to 200 km an hour and heavy rains as it ripped its way across central Europe. As the winds eased slightly on Sunday, Germany reported five people dead, Austria four, the Czech Republic two and Poland two. In Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany, a driver was crushed when a tree fell on his car, while a 72-year-old man in Bavaria perished when a gust of wind pushed his car into the path of an oncoming lorry, police said. In Baden-Wuerttemberg a 19-year-old man was killed in another head-on collision caused by the wind, while in Saxony a 48-year-old woman died and four people were injured in a car crash caused by snow and strong winds. In Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany a 48-year-old man died when winds made him lose control of his minivan on the motorway. Six people were hurt when their bus was blown off the road and into a ditch in Bavaria, while rail passengers had a lucky escape near Bonn when their train hit a tree that had fallen on the line, ripping a large hole in the locomotive. Across Germany, roads and railway lines were closed, roofs were ripped off houses, cars were overturned and power lines put out of action.