Updated

Officials say residents of a California community where hundreds of home wells have run dry can now take hot showers in portable facilities set up in a church parking lot.

Officials say Tulare County in the Central Valley is paying $30,000 a month to provide the showers in East Porterville.

Andrew Lockman of the county Office of Emergency Service said Tuesday that people have to bring their own soap and towels to the showers, and for many it will be the first hot water they've felt in months.

The ongoing drought has forced them to bathe from buckets and drink bottled water.

Lockman says officials are worried about residents taking sponge baths during the cold winter.