Heavy snowstorm pounds Germany, upends travel

BERLIN (AP) — A snowstorm and strong winds pounded northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing trains to cancel trips and leading to hundreds of vehicle crashes. Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads.

The German Weather Service DWD urged people to stay at home and authorities brought homeless people into warm shelters amid the sub-freezing temperatures.

National train operator Deutsche Bahn said main train routes between Hamburg and Hannover, Berlin and the west were canceled as snowdrifts piled up on the tracks and power lines. Some train connections in the east were also canceled, though most of the snow came down in the northwest.

Police in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said early Sunday they had counted 222 road crashes because of the bad weather conditions since Saturday afternoon. They said two people among the 28 were severely injured.

In the Muensterland region and eastern Westphalia, authorities banned trucks from driving on highways until 8 p.m. on Sunday, while in Hesse state, 55 trucks got stuck in the snow trying to drive up a rising stretch of a highway near Knuellwald in the direction of Kassel and elsewhere.

The Bundesliga soccer game between Arminia Bielefeld and Werder Bremen was called off hours before kickoff Sunday because of the snowstorm.

“Due to the heavy and prolonged snowfall combined with frost, it’s not guaranteed that the game can be carried out properly,” the German soccer league said in statement. “A new date for the game will be announced shortly.”

In the western city of Muenster, among the hardest hit places, there was so much snow on the streets that ambulances could no longer drive and all public transportation was shut down. More than 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) of snow had fallen,...