BERLIN — German emergency crews were working Monday to free a cargo ship that ran aground on a North Sea sandbank during a weekend storm that killed at least five people.

High winds lashed Central Europe on Sunday as Storm Herwart passed through, knocking down trees and causing travel chaos. The German railway pressed Monday to reopen several train lines.

Crew members saw their 738-foot bulk carrier, the Glory Amsterdam, drift onto a sandbank off the North Sea island of Langeoog.

Rescuers had hoped to tow it free at high tide Monday, but the country’s central command for maritime emergencies said the water around the ship was too shallow for big tug boats and the rescue plan would have to be altered.

The ship is undamaged and its 22-member crew unhurt, but it has 1,900 tons of fuel oil on board.

Herwart caused blackouts in hundreds of thousands of homes in the Czech Republic, Austria, and other countries.

Two people died in Poland, including a man who drove his car into a tree that had been knocked down, and two others were killed in the Czech Republic when they were hit by falling trees. A camper was swept away in a flash flood and drowned on Germany’s North Sea coast.

Associated Press