BERLIN • German insurers estimated yesterday that ferocious gales that battered Germany caused €500 million (S$809 million) in damages, as the number of dead across the country rose to eight.

Trains on Germany's intercity lines gradually resumed operations a day after they were suspended due to the hurricane-force winds which caused transport chaos across northern Europe.

Two more people were reported killed in the worst storm to strike Germany in a decade, adding to an earlier toll of six which included two firefighters responding to emergency calls.

A 64-year-old man fell 8m while he was working to secure the roof of a house. He later died in hospital, police from the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt said.

A 34-year-old man died after he was crushed by a falling tree, police said.

The huge storm, known in some countries as Storm Friederike, caused another three deaths elsewhere in northern Europe and left air and rail traffic in chaos.

Dutch insurers reported €90 million in damages across The Netherlands, where train services were yesterday also slowly creaking back into gear.

But the Dutch Association of Insurers said it had yet to add in the cost to businesses, government buildings as well as the agriculture sector.

The Netherlands bore the initial brunt of Thursday's severe storms which slammed onshore with winds of up to 140kmh off the North Sea before barrelling across northern Europe.

Its Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest flight hubs, was forced to cancel all flights in or out for about two hours on Thursday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE