Feni, Bangladesh CNN —
Wading through chest-deep muddy water, hundreds of people holding their belongings over their heads to keep dry, slowly make their way to safety.
Entering the city of Feni in southeastern Bangladesh, it becomes clear why it is said to be the epicenter of the country’s worst flooding in living memory. Eleven districts have been inundated since Wednesday night, and large swaths of the city of about 1.5 million people are now underwater.
Bangladeshis live near rivers and waterways, relying on them for vital lifelines for fishing and farming, and are also accustomed to floods and cyclones, which scientists say have been exacerbated by human-induced climate change in recent years.
But the floods have taken them by surprise – and locals are blaming Indian authorities.
Dozens of people CNN met in Feni, just a few miles from the Indian border, accused the Indian government of releasing water from the Dambar Dam in neighboring Tripura state without warning.
As we walked past their house, some people shouted, “We hate India” and “This is Indian water.”
“They opened the gate but we were not given any information,” said Shoriful Islam, 29, an IT worker who returned to his hometown from the capital Dhaka to volunteer with the rescue efforts.
India denied that the dam release was deliberate and said excessive rainfall was a factor, but acknowledged that power outages and communications failures prevented it from giving normal warnings to downstream neighbours.
“India used water weapons,” Islam said. “India is taking revenge for destroying the previous regime.”
CNN participated in two volunteer-run missions in Feni to deliver relief supplies and evacuate vulnerable people.
The only access to the flooded areas is by boat. All major roads are completely blocked to vehicular traffic, and rescue efforts are being slowed by a power shortage and a near-total communications blackout in the city.
The army and navy have been mobilised to coordinate relief efforts and a nationwide volunteer drive has been intensified in the past few days, with people coming from Dhaka and other parts of the country to help with rescue efforts and deliver aid.
Some people are returning to their hometowns to search for their families.
Abdus Salam, 35, a volunteer who normally works as an English teacher in Dhaka, said 12 members of his family, including two sisters, a brother and their children, were stranded in the countryside 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the center of Feni.
“I don’t know if they’re alive,” he told CNN. “I’ve been crying all this time.”
“There is no electricity, no gas and no internet,” he added, calling on the international community for help.
Floods in Bangladesh have affected around five million people and killed at least 18 people, with the death toll feared to rise as the floodwaters recede.
In neighbouring India, officials said at least 26 people were killed and more than 64,000 people were taking refuge in relief camps in the state of Tripura.
Bangladesh floods from above
Anger is growing among Bangladesh flood victims over the source of the water that inundated their homes.
India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Varma, told the Bangladesh government that the dam’s water level had risen and an “automatic release of water” had been initiated, according to government spokesman Shafiqul Alam.
But some believe politics played a role.
“India has shown its inhumanity by opening the dam without warning,” said Nahid Islam, one of two student representatives from Bangladesh’s transitional government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Bangladesh ousted longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina three weeks ago after student-led protests against job quotas escalated into a nationwide movement to remove her from power after she ordered a bloody crackdown that left hundreds dead.
Hasina fled to India by helicopter on August 5 after tens of thousands of people marched on the capital and her official residence. During her 15 years in power, she forged strong ties with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently serving an unprecedented third term.
Since Hasina’s ouster, reports of retaliatory attacks against people perceived to be loyal to her party, many of them Hindu, have emerged, causing great concern in neighbouring Hindu-majority India.
In a statement on Thursday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it was “factually incorrect” to blame the floods on the release of water from the Dambar Dam.
The ministry said the floods in Bangladesh were “mainly” caused by water leaking from the Gumti river’s vast catchment area downstream from the dam.
“Floods in common rivers of India and Bangladesh are a common problem causing suffering to the people of both countries and require close mutual cooperation to resolve them,” the statement said.
Rescue teams are working around the clock in flooded areas amid the escalating diplomatic standoff, with any rescue operation posing a major logistical challenge in the region.
What would normally be a four-hour drive from Dhaka is taking twice that on congested roads as rescuers and volunteers from around the country try to reach the flooded areas. Boats are also hard to find. Many families arrive to rescue relatives, only to find they have no way to reach them.
“We are helpless as we have no boat,” said Yasin Arafat, 24, who had travelled from Dhaka to be with his father, mother, grandmother and younger brother.
We heard that 35 families, including two pregnant women, were clinging to the roofs of the village, but the place was a three-hour boat ride from the city, and there was no rescue boat available to take them there.
“They have no water, no food and are very scared,” he said. “We haven’t received any news for the last 48 hours.”
Even if they could get boats, some parts of the city are on high ground, including railroad tracks, so dozens of volunteers would have to move them by hand.
The main road through Feni is now a major waterway and is used as the central route for people to reach land.
Some who managed to escape on foot are wading through waist- or chest-deep muddy water to reach safety, risking waterborne diseases, snakes and drowning.
For many in the deepest floodwaters, walking is impossible, leaving them stranded in villages several kilometers from the city center. Even boat trips to these areas are perilous: navigating dense forests and swamps poses the risk of engines jamming or hitting underwater obstacles that are unseen in the murky water.
Our boat passed a government building being used as a rescue center, where an estimated 500 people were taking refuge.
The flooded hospital and other multi-storey buildings, including several schools, are being used as temporary shelter for people currently living in submerged single-storey shacks, who are physically safe but lack food, water and medicines.
Pejara Akhter, 36, was trying to rescue her sister Tanzina and her sick newborn from the countryside on the city’s outskirts. The one-month-old baby hadn’t eaten in days and needed to go to the doctor, she said.
“I’m scared my baby won’t survive,” Aksar told CNN.
But after an hour-long search to reach the school where they are believed to be staying, there is no sign of them. The communications blackout is compounding the mounting problems facing rescue efforts.
Akhter headed home, hoping that his sister had found another way home.
We head further north on another boat to witness the next rescue operation.
The Feni-born man, who works as a security guard at a hospital in Qatar, returned to Bangladesh after hearing about what was happening in his hometown.
He managed to get a boat to rescue his 55-year-old mother, but she was too far away to reach, so he came to the evacuation centre instead to rescue other relatives.
The family of four – mother, children and grandparents – struggled to get onto the boat with help from people on board. They looked exhausted and hungry, munching on snacks like nuts and dried fruit and guzzling water.
“We are happy now,” said grandfather Mizanur Rahman Khan, 65. “We are safe.”
As the sun was setting on Friday evening, rescue efforts continued into the night to evacuate Feni’s family to safety.
The town’s main hope is for those stranded to survive until help arrives or the floodwaters subside.
CNN’s Esha Mitra contributed reporting from New Delhi.
