Clean-up begins after first autumn storm lashes Northern Europe

Residents of northern Germany, Denmark and other countries on the Baltic Sea on Saturday assessed damage caused by the first big autumn storm that had battered the region from Thursday.

In the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, about 2,000 people were brought to safety as the water level surged more than 2 metres above normal.

In the village of Maasholm at the mouth of the river Schleim, 40 kilometres east of the city of Flensburg, 400 people had to leave their homes as a precaution because of a dyke breach.

Dykes were damaged or breached in several locations in the state, where rescue control centres counted more than more than 1,700 rescue operations during the storm.

On the island of Fehmarn, off the state's eastern coast, a woman died on Friday afternoon when a tree fell on her car.

Flensburg itself suffered its worst flooding in almost 120 years as the water level reached 2.27 metres above normal.

An employee at a waterfront restaurant said the staff struggled to contain water pouring inside until it reached waist level at 7 pm (1700 GMT). "Then we had to get out," the woman said.

For safety reasons, the public utility company switched off the power in the affected areas at the port until the floodwaters subsided on Saturday.

Flooding was still affecting several parts of Denmark after the water level there also rose 2 metres higher than usual, the Ritzau news agency reported.

Images from impacted areas showed people wading through the deluge or starting to clean up. In the port of Rødvig, where cottages were damaged, the DR broadcaster showed footage of a man standing in a partly submerged house playing the piano.

Flooding also affected southern Sweden, where several train lines had to be shut down.

In Norway, about 21,000 people were still without electricity on Saturday morning, according to the NTB news agency. Rescue services were working to clear fallen trees, and disruptions affected many roads and train lines.

Meanwhile, the ferry company Scandlines allowed ships to sail between Germany and Denmark again on Saturday after suspending services on Thursday. Copenhagen's Kastrup airport also announced on X, formerly Twitter, that it had resumed normal operations.