Storms wreak havoc in Europe

(Vatican Radio) At least five people are known to have been killed in a monster storm that battered much of Europe, including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Britain. 

The storm, dubbed Niklas, included winds of some 120 kilometers per hour in the Netherlands, according to meteorologists. Dutch television showed roads in the Netherlands littered with lorries toppled by high winds. 

And at least one person died in the Dutch town of Ede after a complex for building materials collapsed. 

The situation wasn't much better in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, where winds more or less blew of the roof of an apartment building. 

HUGE NOISE 

"Suddenly we heard a huge noise," said a father who apparently ran away from the building with his family. "The children were crying: 'Daddy, Daddy what is wrong?!'," he recalled. "A neighbour was shooting: 'go outside, go outside. Everything will collapse!," he told Dutch 

television. 

In neighboring Germany at least three people died, including two men whose car was hit by a tree. 

Additionally, a man died when a concrete wall fell on top of him in the eastern town of Gross Santersleben. Flights were disrupted at airports in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.

Germany's rail services were disrupted while the main station in Munich had to be evacuated. "What can we do?", wondered a woman who wanted to take a train. "Nobody can do anything because of the bad weather. We have to see how to get home somehow."       

EASTER HOLIDAY

It happened while many Germans were trying to get away ahead of the Easter holiday period.

Other countries also suffered. In Austria, a man fell from a ladder and suffered fatal head injuries while securing an awning over his patio. While in Britain a man in Birmingham was seriously injured when his car was crushed by a falling tree.

Forecasters said that Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, saw winds of more than 190 kilometers per hour. At least some scientists have warned that Europe will witness more extreme weather due to climate change. 

Whatever the reason, for now many Europeans keep their fingers crossed for an improvement of weather conditions.  Listen to this report by Stefan Bos