Air traffic and some rail services were suspended temporarily.

Berliners picked their way through fallen branches on suburban roads and central boulevards yesterday morning after the storm, which saw the biggest deployment of Berlin emergency services in 25 years.

The two children died while camping on an island in Wannsee lake in Berlin, a police spokesman said, while 13 campers were injured, two seriously. The high winds made rescuing the group on the island difficult, he said.

A group of children from New York, all related to firemen killed in the September 11 attacks on the United States, visited the island earlier in the day as part of an exchange programme but were not caught up in the storm, the police spokesman said.

Two men were killed in northern Berlin by falling trees while in the surrounding Brandenburg region, branches and debris killed three people.

Berlin's main Tegel airport was closed to traffic for some time and a Crossair passenger aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after running out of fuel.

The plane's 20 occupants escaped unharmed after the aircraft landed safely in a former Soviet airfield at Werneuchen in the eastern part of the city.

Dozens of people were reported injured by flying debris and glass overnight and firefighters said they answered over 2,000 emergency calls for assistance overnight.

Train services between Berlin and the northern port city of Hamburg were suspended.