Two young brothers and a woman were killed and two women, including their mother, seriously hurt after the car they were travelling in crashed and overturned on the M6 in Staffordshire on Christmas morning, closing the motorway completely for several hours.

Separately, two more people were killed and another seriously injured when a car crashed near the border of Berkshire and Hampshire.

Emergency services described "exceptionally difficult" scenes on the M6 after the crash at about 11.25am which left the two boys aged four and 10 and a woman aged 32 dead. There was no further information about their identities. Earlier, it had been reported that all three of the victims were children.

While the torrential rain over recent days which has left 150 flood warnings in place across England and Wales has made driving difficult for many during the festive period, the Highways Agency said conditions were fine and dry when the car overturned on the northbound carriageway near junction 15, the turning for Stoke-on-Trent.

A spokesman for West Midlands ambulance service said: "Crews arrived to find a single vehicle that had crashed and overturned. Three children that were travelling in the vehicle suffered serious injuries. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of ambulance crews, nothing could be done to save the two boys and one girl, and they were confirmed dead at the scene.

"Two adult women travelling in the car both received emergency treatment at the scene for their injuries and were transferred by land ambulances to University Hospital North Staffordshire on blue lights for further treatment.

"All emergency services personnel worked seamlessly together at the scene in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, the outcome was not the one everyone would have hoped for."

The two other people died just over an hour before, when their car crashed on a B road near Basingstoke. Reports said the two who died were believed to be a married couple who were being driven by their son. He suffered serious injuries.

In Wiltshire, a passenger in a car was killed at around 3.30am in a crash on the A3102 road in Melksham.

In a separate incident on the M6 in the early hours of Christmas morning, a man had what ambulance crews described as a miraculous escape when his car shattered into three sections after apparently hitting a road sign and then a bridge at high speed.

The only occupant, a man in his mid 20s, was found at the scene "extremely disorientated" but suffering relatively minor injuries, West Midlands ambulance service said. Such was the damage to the car that emergency crews had to use thermal imagers to confirm the man was alone. An ambulance spokesman said: "Considering the damage to the vehicle the man was extremely fortunate not to have suffered more serious or even fatal injuries."

The continued heavy rain in many places brought more disruption to roads, which are expected to become busy again on Boxing Day as people return home or head to shops for the start of the sales. The A27 near Chichester in East Sussex was partly closed due to flooding.

More widely, many dozens of flood warnings remained in place around the country, with downpours easing off slightly but any new rain falling onto already sodden ground.

The Environment Agency still had 151 flood warnings in place for England and Wales on Tuesday, meaning flooding is expected. Almost half of these were in the Midlands, with a number of others in the south-east and south-west regions. For the less serious flood alert status, 259 remained in place. A total of 54 flood warnings were removed.

Since the latest bout of heavy rain began last week, about 470 properties have been flooded.

Forecasters said yet more rain was likely in many parts of the country into Boxing Day, though with the downpours moving gradually north and east. The rest of the week was expected to see showers mixed with brighter spells.

The weather has also brought a succession of problems to the Christmas getaway through delays to rail services. The main rail route into Devon and Cornwall is likely to stay blocked until Friday at least by floodwaters from the River Exe between Tiverton and Exeter.

People in London hoping to head to the Boxing Day sales could face travel disruption due to a one-day strike on the tube network by members of the train drivers' union, Aslef. Transport for London said services would run on most lines but warned of likely delays. The strike has led to the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United being postponed. TfL aims to lay on extra buses into central London, and the congestion charge for drivers will not be operating.