Heavy winds in Europe knock people to their knees

BERLIN — Heavy winds swept across Britain, Germany and the Netherlands on Tuesday, killing one man, knocking other pedestrians to their knees and forcing numerous flight and train delays and cancelations.

German railway operator Deutsche Bahn stopped all local trains in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, which includes Cologne and Duesseldorf. It also halted most long-distance services in Bavaria as falling trees damaged overhead electric wires.

Part of Munich's central rail station was evacuated because of storm damage to the roof, the dpa news agency reported. Pedestrians in the city were slammed by gusts that sent them tumbling to the ground.

Several flights were canceled in Frankfurt and Hamburg.

In the eastern German town of Gross Santersleben, a man was killed when a concrete wall damaged by the storm fell on him, police said.

In Britain, gusts of up to 97 mph (156 kph) hurled tree branches onto railway lines and toppled high-sided vehicles. One tipped-over truck closed the busy Humber Bridge in northeast England.

Two crew members had to be rescued from a tugboat that capsized and sank amid the heavy winds at a marine terminal in Fawley, on England's south coast.