Fallen trees and branches blocked rail lines and roads and damaged roofs and cars while heavy rains flooded several streets.

Rail travel between the ports of Hamburg and Kiel was disrupted and trains bound from Hamburg to Berlin had to be rerouted. Traffic on the autobahns around Hamburg was backed up for several kilometers (miles).

Lightning was believed to have started a fire at a Dow chemical plant in the city of Stade, when hydrogen-based exhaust from a ventilation pipe on the roof ignited. The company said the blaze caused no damage.

Electrical storms led to a fire at a wind farm in the town of Wulfshagen. Firefighters let the windmill's rotor burn because they were unable to reach it with hoses.

In Hamburg, the fire brigade took 260 emergency calls while large swathes of the state of Schleswig-Holstein on the Danish border lost electricity.

Meteorologists warned of further storms in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg and said tornadoes were possible.

TERRA.WIRE