At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an "after-action" would follow the search and rescue efforts. "Those questions are gonna be answered," he added.

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.

Officials provided updates on Thursday as the search, rescue and cleanup operations carry on in Kerr County and the rest of the Texas Hill Country after July 4th's devastating flooding.

Plans to develop a flood monitoring system in the Texas county hit hardest by deadly floods were scheduled to begin only a few weeks later.

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.

Daniel Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, believes that long, flat tone the morning of July Fourth saved lives.

Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority have tried several times to get funding to upgrade flood alerts on the river, dating back to 2016.

The number of confirmed deaths from the Texas Hill Country floods rose to 95 in Kerr County on Wednesday, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.