Powerful storm lashes Europe; at least 7 dead

High winds create chaos on highways, halt flights, trains.

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS A powerful storm pummeled — Europe with high winds and snow Thursday, killing at least seven people in three countries, grounding flights, halting trains, ripping roofs off buildings and flipping trucks.

The Dutch national weather service recorded wind gusts of up to 87 mph in the southern port of Hook of Holland as the storm passed over.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol halted flights for an hour in the morning, and airline KLM scrapped more than 200 flights even before the storm arrived. Trains were halted across the nation and in Germany.

Falling trees killed two 62-year-old men in the Netherlands, a woman south of the Belgian capital of Brussels, a 59-year-old man camping in the German town of Emmerich and a firefighter in the German town of Bad Salzungen.

In Lippstadt, in western Germany, a driver died when he lost control of his van in strong winds and drove into oncoming traffic. In German’s eastern state of Brandenburg, police said a gust of wind flipped a truck over a highway, killing the driver.

Police spokeswoman Jose Albers told Dutch national broadcaster NOS that authorities also were investigating whether the powerful gusts were to blame for the death of a 66-year-old man who fell through a plastic glass roof in the central town of Vuren.

Social media in the Netherlands were flooded with images of people being blown from their bicycles, cargo containers falling off a ship and damage to buildings, including a roof that peeled off an apartment block in Rotterdam.

Water authorities in the low-lying nation closed an inflatable storm barrier east of Amsterdam to prevent flooding as the storm pushed up water levels.

Traffic on Dutch roads was plunged into chaos, with the wind blowing over tractor trailers, toppling trees and hampering efforts to clean up the mess. In Amsterdam, authorities temporarily halted all trams and closed the city’s zoo.

Before halting all trains, the Dutch rail service reported numerous incidents including a collision between a train and a trampoline.

In neighboring Belgium, the port of Ghent closed because of the high winds, and tram traffic was halted in parts of Brussels.

PETER DEJONG / ASSOCIATED PRESS A man picks up his gloves after his scooter was hit by a falling tree uprooted by heavy winds in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Thursday. Seven people in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe were killed by falling trees.