Flash flood in Germany kills 3 women

updated 11:50 a.m. ET June 3, 2008

BERLIN - A severe storm unleashed heavy rains and flash floods on southwestern Germany overnight, killing three women and injuring more than 10 people, police said Tuesday.

A normally quiet stream that runs through the Killertal — which means "killer valley" in German — in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg became choked with rainwater and morphed into a raging river on Monday evening, police spokesman Lambert Maute said.

The stream burst its banks, flooding streets with more than 18 inches (half a meter) of water in some villages along its path.

Water surging over the banks of a canal linked to the stream submerged a car in the town of Jungingren. Two women in the vehicle drowned, Maute said. The passenger's body had been swept downstream.

A third woman died in the town of Hechingen after rising water trapped her in her basement.

A regional train struck trees that had been blown onto the tracks by strong winds, seriously injuring the train's engineer. He was flown by helicopter to a military hospital in nearby Ulm.

The storm, which began Monday around 7:30 p.m., also caused considerable delays at the nearby Stuttgart airport and millions of dollars in damage.

"The vehicles are standing all over the place, in the craziest positions," Maute said.

A firefighter received an electric shock during the cleanup Tuesday, but it was not life-threatening.

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