In Mosul, Iraq, a handful of civilians used small wooden boats to cross the Tigris River on Wednesday, as heavy floods made bridges between the two halves of the war-torn city impassible. Civilians complained of being trapped between ISIS and U.S.-backed forces fighting for control of the city. This is Mosul resident Ali Faisal.

Ali Faisal: “Our main demand is the provision of the means to move between the east and the west sides of the city. Transportation between the two sides is very difficult. We call for the construction of a new bridge to facilitate movement between the two sides. People who have someone ill or who are in an emergency situation cannot cross now, after the closure of the al-Munira bridge.”

About 400,000 people are trapped in western Mosul, while hundreds of thousands more have fled to squalid camps for the internally displaced.