Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system, including failing to secure roughly $1 million US for a project to better protect Kerr County’s 50,

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.

As flood water rose rapidly on the Guadalupe River in Texas early on July 4, there was no outdoor siren or warning alarm to alert people to the danger.Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, a top local government official,

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 flooding created financial peril for many small businesses owners. Now they are cleaning up and working to get back on their feet.

Twice, the Texas Division of Emergency Management turned down Kerr County's requests for money to improve flood warnings.

Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.

A "Basic Plan" for emergency response for three Texas counties labeled flash flooding as having a "major" impact on public safety, according to a page on a city website.