Thousands of people across Europe face a second day of disruption following a powerful storm with hurricane-force gusts.

Accidents linked to the storm killed at least seven people across Europe over the past two days in Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Britain.

Traffic ground to a halt on icy roads and train services were cancelled in large parts of Sweden. Tens of thousands of people lost electricity and strong winds knocked down the city of Vaxjo's Christmas tree.

Scores of flights were cancelled at airports in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Poland. More than 1,000 people spent the night at Copenhagen airport where 200 flights were cancelled on Thursday and about 70 on Friday.

Copenhagen's international airport reopened on Friday morning after an all-night closure and flights resumed but delays were expected.

Some bridges in Scandinavia remained closed and thousands of homes in Sweden and Norway were without power on Friday morning.

Strong winds threatened a collection of Viking ships recovered from the bottom of a Danish fjord in the 1960s and put on exhibition.

Museum workers boarded up the expansive windows of the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde 25 miles west of Copenhagen amid fears the water from the surrounding fjord would rise and shatter the glass.

In Hamburg, Germany's second biggest city, the water rose about 13 feet above average flood levels on Friday, hitting heights rarely seen and parts of the city's busy port were shut.

Hamburg airport, where almost all flights were cancelled late on Thursday, was open for business on Friday but cautioned that there would be cancellations because of wind and snow. Trains northwards from Hamburg to Denmark and some other destinations were cancelled.