Tornadoes kill two in Germany as storms tear roofs, uproot trees and injure several

At least two people were killed and several injured as severe storms, including confirmed tornadoes, swept across parts of Germany overnight and into Thursday, causing widespread damage to buildings, vehicles and infrastructure.
In Waldorf, Rhineland-Palatinate, a 58-year-old woman was killed and a 47-year-old woman seriously injured when a tree uprooted by a storm fell onto a covered seating area where they had taken shelter, police said. In Georgenthal, Thuringia, a 40-year-old man was struck and killed by falling branches while walking his child to kindergarten; the child was unharmed, according to Landrat Onno Eckert and police.
The German Weather Service confirmed tornadoes in Fürstenwalde, Brandenburg, and the Wetzlar area in Hesse. In Fürstenwalde, roofs were torn off, cars damaged by falling trees, and at least two people injured, including two in a vehicle struck by a tree, Mayor Matthias Rudolph said. A photo showed a tree trunk piercing the ceiling of a kitchen in a residential home. In Wetzlar’s Münchholzhausen district, about 60 houses were damaged, with some roof sections blown up to 100 meters away, the fire department reported. In nearby Solms, around a dozen homes lost roofs, with Mayor Katharina Didlapp describing the damage as “immense.”
In Höhr-Grenzhausen, Westerwald district, storms tore walls from buildings, downed trees and caused power outages, while a truck overturned on the A61 highway due to strong gusts, according to dpa. In Kronach, Bavaria, about 3,500 festival guests were partially evacuated from outdoor areas due to storms but continued indoors, local police said.
The DWD warned of further severe storms in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria later Thursday. The storms in Germany contrasted with ongoing high temperatures and wildfires in southeastern Europe, where a Russian Il-76 firefighting plane joined efforts in Serbia to combat blazes in a nature reserve.
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