Water outage in flood-hit Japan amid scorching heat, death toll tops 170

HIROSHIMA. KAZINFORM Hundreds of thousands of people in western Japan affected by devastating floods and landslides on Wednesday continued to struggle with water outages amid scorching heat, while the death toll of the country's worst rain-related disaster in decades climbed to 176 with scores more still missing.

At least 254,084 homes are still cut off from the water supply in Hiroshima, Ehime and Okayama, the prefectures hit hardest by last week's torrential rains, according to the welfare ministry, Kyodo reports.

About 1,100 homes in other nine prefectures, including Osaka, Yamaguchi and Tokushima, are also without water and there are no prospects of the supply being restored, the ministry said.

Many of those who managed to evacuate have relied on water supplied by local municipalities and the Self-Defense Forces.

Fourteen cities and towns in Hiroshima Prefecture have been affected by water cut-offs following a number of mudslides that caused burst water pipes and power outages at distribution reservoirs.

In the city of Kure, where more than 10 people died, water was distributed at schools and other public facilities after a center managing the water supply was destroyed by mud and sand. The suspension has affected around 93,000 homes, most of the city's residents.

Masakazu Furusho, 65, was one of many residents who came to a water distribution point at an elementary school in Kure.

"I have to go back and forth between my home and the school three times a day," he said, adding he wants to know when the water system will be restored.

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