Tornado Kills Two In Hamburg, Germany - Reuters

[hatrack]

BERLIN - A rare tornado wreaked havoc in the northern German city of Hamburg on Monday, tearing the roofs off houses, overturning cars and killing two people, authorities said. The southern district of Harburg was hardest hit by the violent storm, which knocked down three cranes at a construction site, killing two operators, a police spokeswoman said. Two others at the site also suffered injuries, she added.

The whirlwind overturned several cars and trucks and one company building had its entire roof stripped off, local fire services said. Damage to power masts left parts of the city, including a hospital, without electricity.

The tornado caused serious traffic hold-ups in the area, as well as disruptions to rail services. Police said it was too early to estimate the cost of the damage.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35809/story.htm

[MADem]

1. Europe, it's Kansas now???

Follow the yellow brick road!

[aquart]

2. None of this is good news.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. It's not that unusual...

An immortal rumour wandering through the German press says: "Tornados only exist in the USA!". Even if a village is almost devastated, like in June 2004 Micheln, Sachsen-Anhalt, or in June 2003 Acht, Rhineland-Pfalz, you can read such a nonsense. Often enough, articles refer to a "mini-tornado".

The truth, however, is that Germany, would it be an American State, was in the tenth place there, as far as frequency and violence of tornados are concerned.

We have composed a graphic, which shows all known tornados that were at least as strong as the ones in Micheln and Acht. It is obvious, that they occur pretty often, whereby those in empty areas might not even be recorded. Therefore, the real number of severe tornados should be higher.

The most tornado jeopardized country of Germany is Lower-Saxony.
http://wetterchronik.de/english/tornadogeruecht.htm