Six people are dead as a storm packing powerful winds capable of knocking over trees and cranes sweeps through northern and eastern Germany.
Five of the victims were in their cars when strong winds caused trees to crash into their vehicles in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as the cities of Berlin and Hamburg.
One person also died near the Polish border, police said.
Several more people in Berlin were injured by falling trees, authorities said.
The storm ripped trees from the ground in Berlin, which have fallen across streets, paths and train tracks, blocking local transportation. Strong gusts in the capital city also knocked over mopeds and bikes.
The German Weather Service said in a statement that the storm could reach hurricane-strength wind speeds of between 105 and 115 kilometres per hour.
A scaffolding hangs off the facade of a monastery in Magdeburg, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. Storm Xavier brought strong winds to northern Germany. Source: AAP
The Hamburg fire brigade warned residents not to leave their houses, while its Berlin counterpart declared a state of emergency, saying it could not keep up with the more than 200 emergency calls it had received.
A spokesman for the Berlin fire brigade said that threats to human life were being prioritised over damage to property.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn cancelled its train services in the northern states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen, as well as commuter trains in the port city of Hamburg.
The company also cancelled long-distance trains to and from the capital Berlin.
Berlin's Tegel and Schoenefeld airports temporarily suspended ground operations. Before the all-clear was given, passengers were held in their aircrafts for security reasons while passengers who were due to fly were not allowed to board planes.
Several international flights from the airports in Bremen and Hanover were cancelled.
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