SHILLONG, Aug 12 - Three people died this afternoon when trees inside Raj Bhavan here fell on parked vehicles outside its boundary wall.
The mishap was caused due to incessant rain as the trees fell over the boundary wall and also brought down electric poles and lines on the people in the parked vehicles adjacent to the wall.
One taxi driver died on the spot after the trees fell right on top of the vehicle. Two occupants died in the hospital. The area is a busy taxi stand especially for students from St Anthony�s College which is about 200 metres down the road where the mishap occurred and also office-goers.
The mishap could have taken a larger toll had it been a working day. Moreover, owing to the heavy downpour there were less people in the area, which possibly averted a higher toll.
The accident caused a major traffic snarl in the city as traffic had to be diverted from the area. The rainfall has also caused disruption of power, telephone and Internet connection throughout the day. Elsewhere in the State, in several locations there were landslides reported. In Umsning there was a landslide which caused heavy traffic snarl on the Shillong-Guwahati Highway.
