2010 Leh floods
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| Date | 6 August 2010 |
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| Location | Leh, and numerous other villages in the Ladakh Range |
| Deaths | at least 255 killed, 29 missing |
| Property damage | Rs. 1.33 billion |
The 2010 Ladakh floods occurred on 6 August 2010 across a large part of Ladakh, a region in the northernmost Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. 71 towns and villages were damaged, including the main town in the area, Leh. At least 255 people are reported to have died, six of whom were foreign tourists, after a cloudburst and heavy overnight rains triggered flash floods, mudflows, and debris flows. 200 people were reported missing in the initial aftermath of the storm, and thousands more were rendered homeless after the flooding caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure. Overall, 9000 people were directly affected by the event.
Leh is the largest town in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a plateau at around 3500 meters above sea level and usually receives very little rainfall (around 100 mm/yr). Described as a 'high altitude cold desert', the area has sparse rainfall and a heavy downpour is a rare occurrence. The average rainfall in Leh for the month of August is 15.4 mm, with highest rainfall ever recorded during a single 24-hour period being 51.3 mm, recorded on 22 August 1933.
The town is predominantly Buddhist. Tourists are attracted by its natural beauty. August is the peak tourist season when thousands of western backpackers flock to the area. Leh receives about 60000 foreign and 150,000 domestic tourists annually.
The flash floods happened after a night of heavy downpour. The cloudburst itself occurred between 0000–0030 hours IST on 6 August 2010, leading to flash flooding, debris flows, and mudflows over the region. The rainfall distribution was highly spatially variable. The most intense part of the storm was focused in a 6 km wide band parallel to, and a few kilometers from, the river Indus. This band was centred over most of the major settlements in the area, including Leh. Outside the band, the rainfall intensity was unremarkable; the only weather station in the area, at Leh airport, recorded only 12.8 mm of total rainfall for the night of 6 August. However, within it precipitation intensities were over an order of magnitude higher, peaking at at least 150 mm/h over Leh during the most intense part of the storm. Some estimates of the maximum total rainfall in some places were as high as 250 mm. Note that the implied 75 mm of rain over Leh during the most intense part of the storm is equivalent to around a year's worth of rain falling in 30 minutes.
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