In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

The number of people reported missing in Kerr County, Texas, as a result of last week’s flash floods continues to soar. Authorities say search teams combing through the debris and destruction there are looking for more than 160 people who disappeared in the raging waters.

Crews are using construction equipment to clear vehicles, trees and homes in a race to locate the 161 people still missing since Friday’s devastating flood.

A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.

FEMA records show Kerr County officials did not use FEMA’s system to send warnings to phones in the critical hours as the flooding began on July 4.

Staff members from each entity will be providing face-to-face help for survivors affected by the floods. No appointment is needed. If you need accommodations to communicate with representatives - like a sign language interpreter, you are urged to call 833-285-7448.

FOX 4’s Steven Dial rode along the Guadalupe River with the sheriff of Andrews County, located in West Texas, to get his first-hand account of the recovery effort.

Members of the Lufkin Marine Corps League are preparing to head to Kerrville to assist in the clean-up and recovery process after devastating floods that left over 100 dead and even more still missing.

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July.