Hamburg On Alert

Germany's northern port of Hamburg was preparing for a direct hit, which some forecasters said could be as powerful as a storm and flood in the city in 1962 that killed 315.

Of the 377 planes that had been due to land at or take off from Hamburg airport on Thursday, 120 were cancelled or diverted due to high winds. The airport said it expected further cancellations and delays on Friday.

In Hamburg a fish market was flooded. Many schools and Christmas markets were closed. Ferries to Germany's North Sea islands were kept in port and some industrial plants closed.

"The truly dangerous thing about this storm is that the winds will continue for hours and won't let up," said Andreas Friedrich, a German weather service meteorologist. "The danger of coastal flooding is high."

Friedrich said people were being advised to stay indoors because of the risk of trees being toppled or roofs blown off. An extreme weather warning was issued for the northern states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bremen.

The German transport ministry said until Sunday people should limit travel by road and rail to journeys which are "absolutely necessary". Train services were restricted.

The Oresund bridge linking southern Sweden with Denmark was shut at 1500 GMT. Some railway lines in southern Sweden were closed, with high winds expected in the south and heavy snow further north.

In Denmark, railroad company DSB said it would stop operating most trains. Airline Alsie Express cancelled all domestic flights and the 6.8-km (4-mile) Great Belt Bridge, which includes a 1.6-km (1-mile) suspension bridge section, was closed.

Copenhagen Airport, the Nordic region's busiest airport, closed to all traffic on Thursday evening until Friday at 0700 GMT due to the storm.

Trains in the northern Netherlands were halted, Dutch Railways said. At Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport 50 flights were cancelled, a spokeswoman said, adding there could be further cancellations.