Thousands of families remained without electricity on Saturday two days after a powerful storm ravaged Germany and other parts of Europe, reported Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. Train services were still disrupted after the national rail company Deutsche Bahn took the unprecedented step of suspending all journeys at the height of the storm on Thursday evening. Most of the families without electricity were in the eastern part of the country, where winds of 200 kilometres per hour brought down overhead power lines and electricity pylons. Around 11,000 households were without power on Saturday morning, but many were being hooked up to emergency generators while workers repaired damage to the main electricity grid. Train services began limping back to life on Friday, but many passengers faced long delays on Saturday as railway workers sought to finish clearing tracks blocked by uprooted trees. No trains were running at all in parts of the densely populated Ruhr industrial region. The disruption also affected services in Germany's neighbouring countries. Dutch radio reported that four trains carrying winter sports enthusiasts were stranded at the border because they were unable to continue their journey through Germany. Rail officials said it could take until Monday afternoon before services were back to normal. The storm, dubbed Kyrill by German meteorologists, was one of the worst in the past two decades. Insurance companies estimated it caused one billion euros worth of damage in Germany.
