Five people have been killed by falling trees as strong winds battered southern Poland on Monday, reaching a speed of 96mph (155km/h) in the highest parts of the Tatra mountains, writes The Guardian.

In the town of Rabka-Zdrój, two women and a six-year-old died after a tree crushed them, firefighters said.

Another woman died when a tree fell on her car in the town of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra mountains, a spokesperson for Zakopane’s firefighters, Andrzej Król-Łęgowski, said. A falling tree in the same town killed a child, according to a spokesperson for medical responders.

Local authorities have issued a warning of dangerous winds reaching at least 62mph and have closed mountain tracks in Tatra national park.

Firefighters intervened 140 times on Monday morning to remove trees blocking roads and help homeowners with destroyed roofs, local media said.

The winds followed three days of unusually warm weather. On 30 March, temperatures reached a new record for that month, rising to 26.4C in the southern town of Tarnów, according to the state PAP newswire.