Wells dug for emergencies are helping residents and volunteer workers in western Japan areas where water supplies remain cut off weeks after devastating torrential rains earlier this month, local people said Monday.

More than 17,000 households in the hardest-hit Okayama, Hiroshima and Ehime prefectures were still without water as of Saturday afternoon after floods and mudslides, caused by the heavy rains, severed pipes and damaged related facilities. More than 200 people were killed in the disaster.

While much well water is not suitable for drinking, it can be used for cleaning, flushing toilets and other purposes and is particularly helpful for local people who cannot travel to distant water supply points.

A private well at a kimono store in the Mabi area of the city of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, is being used for cleaning and as bathwater after Sakiko Kanbara, 40, opened it to the public shortly after the disaster.

"We wanted to do something when public institutions have their hands already full," said Kanbara, who teaches disaster nursing at a university.

"It's great we can use it freely," said Atsushi Koizumi, 35, a volunteer worker from the island of Shodoshima in Kagawa Prefecture, as he washed dirt off a shovel and rain boots.

Volunteer workers have been coming to Kanbara's store every evening also because they can take baths using the well water.

"Disaster-hit areas are harsh for volunteer workers as well. We want to continue helping them so they can continue working," said Kanbara's 70-year-old father, Kazuyoshi.

In the city of Kure, Hiroshima, a hand-written sign that says "We have well water. Please use it for miscellaneous tasks" was posted on a railing on a roadside.

"I suffered from water stoppage before and thought I should dig a well," said a 63-year-old man who posted the sign.

He said the water is not suitable for drinking but can be used for flushing toilets.

Masahiro Watanabe, 76, who is also giving out well water in the city, said, "There are many old people who cannot travel to water supplying points, so I am telling people to take water as much as they need."

"No matter how much we try to save its use, we run out of it, so it is very helpful that we can get it nearby," said a woman in her 60s in the neighborhood.

Susumu Nakano, of Tokushima University's disaster management research center, said wells are playing an important role in responding to the crisis and advised people to regularly check them to see if they can be used in case of emergencies.