Dozens killed in Leh cloudburst, flash floods

I agree with solo_trekker. while entire august is a bad time to go, those going in september should not cancel their plans.
The govt will rebuild the infrastucture, and give some handouts.
What about the locals there.
The shopkeepers, the taxi drivers, the guest house owners....
September is the last month for them to make money. After that, in october, the roads shut down, and leh closes.
If tourists stop going, the locals will have a tough time. Major income is from tourism.
Already they are looking at a natural disaster, if tourism stops completely after this, they will also be looking at an economic disaster.
By end august, which is 3 weeks from now, the roads will be cleared, and shops and guest houses will re-open. At that time, they will be looking for tourists to help them stock up for the harsh winter.

Yes august is a bad time to go, but those going in september can visit that area. Show must go on......

I agree with previous speakers. Despite infrastructure is broken, September is the last chance for both locals and tourists. I was planning to go in the middle of September, and really hope my plans will not change. Of course, things probably will not be entirely correct, transport may be erratic, some guesthouses in bad state of repair, phone communication/ATM out of order, poor supply of water/food, etc. But the flow of tourists should be encouraged if it provides some income to the locals before the winter...

I am usually a very enthusiastic cheerleader for ladakh travel but I am not sure now much infrastructure will recover by september - thats just another 3-4 weeks away....

The airport and the roads will be ok but what about electricity, water supply etc? I think those will take a much longer time to normalize. The tourists contribute to the economy but they also consume a vast amount of resources in a land where almost everything has to be transported up from the plains.

The below link talks about water sources getting contaminated and plans to transport water from outside.... and usually the tourists consume a lot more water than locals who are accustomed to life in a semi desert climate.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...ow/6284908.cms

It seems ridiculous to go anytime in the near future into a disaster zone.

Leh now battles food, water shortage


Mod note : Link provided(its the same link as in the above post ) instead of the whole text.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...ow/6284908.cms

Totally! Rather than contributing, tourist might end up consuming more of the scarce resources the town now possesses!
I think army will do its bit in helping the poor victims of this natural disaster
a better idea is to avoid leh this season, if possible!

For those of you that insist on there there soon, there is RAW sewage still on the streets of Leh, disease has started spreading quickly. Know what you are getting into BEFORE you go there.

Here is my experince for 6th/7th Aug during my visit to Leh
I was there with my family (Me/Dad/Sis)
I am not posting the full travelougue here, as it is not relevant for this thread..

We were in Leh on that fateful night and there was continuous rains and lightning. It was only the next morning that we heard about the cloud burst. Our IA flight scheduled for Friday was cancelled. There was a rush for eatables/phone facilities in the morning with only one shop near the SBI ATM open in the market, which we were lucky enough to find through a help of a local. The queue was similar to what we have in front of ration shops. The only phone that was working was Airtel so after waiting in the queue and retrying several times we were able to inform our dear ones about our safety. The next shock came in form of food /restraints, none were open as the Leh Market was closed for obvious reasons. Again with some luck we found a place on the fort road offering food to people with curtains shielding the view so that there are no problems with the Market association. We just reached in time to get some last bite after which that was also closed due to shortage of food. After carrying back some eatables back to the hotel another surprise awaited us as the owners of the place we were putting up asked us to find accommodation elsewhere, because they wanted to move uphill to a safer place. The place we went to stay was near a rivulet and they gave us room after lots of explaining, as there was no accommodation available at Changspa, Leh being on the higher side nearer to a hillock. There was nothing to eat, as the markets were closed and nobody from the hotel was willing to go down to the market areas, as the water flowing in the rivulet (possibly coming from Khardungla) was increasing every minute and there was panic already with announcements on speakers in Ladakhi informing the people to move to safer places uphill as the big fearful clouds surrounding Leh yet again. The bad part was the inability to understand the announcements unless the locals translated it. I suppose they were spreading more panic than reassurance. Hordes and hordes of vehicles rushed up the Changspa road uphill as people evacuated homes from Leh town.

We were told to evacuate once again from our hotel owners yet again late in the evening, although this time we are all told to be together, along with the hotel owners we climbed up to Shanti Stupa, where almost half of Leh was already present. There were no other provisions on the top there except the faith of god. Most of the locals huddled together in tents on top the hillocks near Shanti stupa with many foreigners out in the open with slight drizzling. We were lucky enough to have umbrellas and sleeping bags. We didn’t spend the entire night at the Stupa, came back late in the night to have dinner, but were warned by the hotel guys to sleep in the travel clothes with the door open, so that if it pours heavily we would have to rush there back again. Thankfully it didn’t rain all that much that night. Also that all the flights scheduled for this day were rescheduled for the next day only if the weather holds good.

Next Day (7th Aug)
We got up early in the morning, got very little sleep last night, as the 3 of us prayed the whole night for good weather in the night/next day. We reached the airport somehow and stayed there till 2:00PM to finally catch our flight. The situation at the airport was even worse. Most of the tourists scheduled to fly on the 6th had taken shelter there, as the approach roads to the airport were badly damaged, and after 4:00PM nobody was willing to go down to the airport to pickup the tourists, being down in the valley. Many others were enquiring about tickets availability as they saw the panic the day before. The morning saw clouds yet again with slight drizzling. I asked all the passengers we saw at the airport to pray so that the clouds get cleared (God I haven’t feared the clouds this much until now). The private airlines were charging close to 33k per head of what we came to know. There was also a big blinder, where several passengers claimed that they were being denied their seats on the flight on the claims that “No such flight exists for today”, which was being covered by Aaj-Tak. Finally amidst all this confusion our flight IC 446 was announced and we were able to get out of the Paradise turned Hell.

Its just a suggestion

Can we indianmikers do something to help the surviors and families of people killed for rehabilations and other things

i feel and want to do something for them

It is so terrible to hear about these horrible floods. I visited in August and despite being told its "Bad Time to go" the weather was amazing for me. Its just unbelievable that within a span of few hours the situation turned disastrous. I left Leh on the 4th of August and i really came to appreciate that Ladakhi people be it the local population or the tourism industry really have their wits about them. This may sound a bit pedantic but I am sure they will come out of this stronger and better. For those of you wanting to visit in September i would be sure to check for road closures and book accommodation and tours in advance, if your tour operator or guide is happy to have you there, there is little reason to cancel. Although i must admit this is very optimistic thinking. I really doubt they would be able to get everything in order for September. None the less if you don't end up going vow to go next year. I really cant wait to go again next year.

Thanks for the update jayad08...

One can only imagine the whole scene playing out...
Quite sad, really...

Changspa, the Israeli part of Leh town, as quite a few people call it, is where most of the foreign tourists, especially the backpackers stay... It is in the higher part of town, and so wasn't affected much by the slush, as also reported in an earlier post by an IMer who was also there that fateful night...

Hopefully things will get better soon...
The flights have been operational from the very next day...
The phone lines are also mostly operational now...
The temporary bridges are being laid and road connectivity from the Srinagar side will be on in a day or two at most...
Road connectivity from the Manali side would take a while longer as there are landslides also to be dealt with in addition to the relaying of bridges...
The trekking routes will now probably open next season only though...

(Do check Post #57 on Page 4 of this thread)
I admit I maybe have been overly emotional about this right from the first moment I came to know about it; and wasn't even aware about the gravity of the tragedy in the first few hours; but I'll reiterate the point I have been emphasizing upon -
Postpone your plans, yes...
But, Please don't cancel your plans yet...

September will be fine for tourists...

Amen...!

Well then, here's another point of view: If you are truly that concerned you could send in the money that you would spend there without actually going there! I think this would help them without the bother of having to express their gratitude by providing you the services that you pay for!
Am I missing something?

..missing perhaps the joy of being in Ladakh in September

Its disheartening to see destruction everywhere in Leh, natrue has been really hard on these innocent people with living harsh life in that altitude. Winters will be approaching soon after September when its gets really cold there?
I have been reading you post they have been informative, really helpful in planning for my trip to ladakh.
As you being senior member, very much familiar with Ladakh, Could you suggest some organization where we can contribute financially to help people in ladakh?
There could be many organization, but one which will working for these people. Just to make sure money is to Ladakhis.

Ladakh is an enchanting place.
We all shouldn't forget that the Indus (which is now helping to seriously flood parts of Pakistan) has its run in Ladakh as well. Heavy rains in China, I believe in the general "greater" region too. Now heavy rains and serious flooding in Leh area...It all seems a part of a greater cycle and system in the climate and Mother nature there.
I was in Ladakh 6 years ago, and I pray for those people, tourists and locals alike. It IS a harsh place to live and even travel due to high altitude and weather. I stayed with a family in Ladakh, opposite from Leh-but in the same valley. Can't get in touch with them though, have lost their mailing address.

I'd like to bring up the conservation on whether we all might consider that the weather happening in this region of the world could very possible occurr further south in greater India?
I know the weather tends to go from south to north, so chances are this isn't possible. But if Mother nature is setting out huge natural events on and off for the past several months all over the world now, who knows?...I've actually read that India as a sub-continent is actually going to be stable in comparison with what other nations and land masses will be potentially experiencinhg in relation to climate change and natural events forecasted.