Violent storms have caused transport disruptions in Britain and Germany and left tens of thousands without electricity. No long-distance trains were expected to run in the northern half of Germany before midday on Thursday, the railway operator Deutsche Bahn said as Storm Ylenia swept through the regions of Hesse, Saxony and southern Brandenburg. Cancellations and delays are also expected in regional traffic. Airports have also cancelled many flights due to the strong wind, including Berlin-Brandenburg Airport and Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt, which had flights to Berlin, Munich and Hamburg scheduled. At Hamburg airport, around a dozen flights are cancelled. Ferry services have also been temporarily suspended in many places, such as Lübeck and Rostock. At the height of the storm, winds of up to 152 kilometres per hour occurred on Wednesday on the Brocken, the highest point of the Harz mountains in northern Germany. About 54,000 households were left without electricity during the night in North Rhine-Westphalia, while in Bavaria about 10,000 people were affected by power cuts, according to operators. The outages were often caused by trees falling on power lines. In most cases, the power supply was quickly restored. The Berlin fire brigade declared a state of emergency for the second time on Thursday morning as it was called to more than 100 operations, primarily to deal with fallen trees and branches. No injuries were reported. In neighbouring Czech Republic, more than 300,000 households were without electricity on Thursday due to damaged power lines. Trains were also cancelled in Scotland on Wednesday night because of Storm Dudley, which brought winds of up to 81 miles per hour (130 kph), according to Britain's Met Office. Network Rail said that the storm had "caused major disruption" and warned that Storm Eunice "will be more severe" on Friday. Some 19,000 households and businesses were also temporarily deprived of electricity across northern England. The Met Office has placed most of England under amber weather warning for Friday due to Storm Eunice with coastal areas in south-west England and southern Wales in red warning forecasting "significant disruption and dangerous conditions due to extremely strong winds." Train, bus and ferry services and flights in these areas concerned are to be cancelled with some power lines expected to be brought down. A yellow warning for Northern Ireland and Scotland has also been decreed. — Agencies
