The UK, the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg) and Germany all were victims of deadly storm Friederike (which was called Georgina in the UK and Friederike in Germany) as it brought record 100mph winds and rain and halted traffic for millions.
<b> United Kingdom</b>
In Scotland, people were advised to travel only for necessary purposes as the storm caused high winds on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, bringing down trees and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ferry/barge going for an unplanned ride in the severe winds of windstorm <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Friederike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Friederike</a> in Almere, the Netherlands today, Jan 18. Report: Marija Mujic <a href="https://t.co/3EnQk6fJVB">pic.twitter.com/3EnQk6fJVB</a></p>— severe-weather.EU (@severeweatherEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/severeweatherEU/status/953992562259447808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<b>The Netherlands</b>
The Dutch capital’s airport Schiphol canceled all flights as from 11 am (some 260 of them) during the noon shift and people were advised to stay indoors. In the harbor of Rotterdam, several containers fell off a stack because of the wind. Two people died because of falling trees.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Windstorm <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Friederike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Friederike</a> tossing around cargo containers around the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands today. Report via Bas Cammeraat. <a href="https://t.co/ypZEtqCNIf">pic.twitter.com/ypZEtqCNIf</a></p>— severe-weather.EU (@severeweatherEU) <a href="https://twitter.com/severeweatherEU/status/953945401123639296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Dutch Rail (NS – Nederlands Spoor) canceled many trains during the day and said that "at most, only a few trains" would run throughout the evening.
<b>Belgium</b>
One person died when a tree fell on her car, several schools were closed and train traffic in the northern part of the country was temporarily halted.
<b>Germany</b>
Meteorologists had warned people beforehand to stay indoors whilst authorities closed all schools in the path of the storm. Deutsche Bahn, the national rail operator, suspended traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate state and Lower Saxony.
All international trains between the aforementioned countries were also scrapped.
Source:
Damn that container