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.

The report stated that the top priority for saving lives during severe floods was to 'improve the delivery and effectiveness of warning messages'

Rain rushing to the Guadalupe took it from a depth of less than 8 feet to 37.5 feet, a deluge with as much volume as an aircraft carrier over five minutes.

With more than 170 still missing, communities must reconcile how to pick up the pieces around a waterway that remains both a wellspring and a looming menace.

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.

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.

KERRVILLE — As the massive search for flood victims entered its seventh day, local officials on Thursday said the death toll in Kerr County has risen to 96. Officials have recovered 96 bodies in Kerr County as of 8 a.m. Thursday, with 60 of those adults and 36 children, said Jonathan Lamb, a spokesman with the Kerrville Police Department.

SAN ANTONIO — Five days after the waters of the Guadalupe River rose and overwhelmed much of Kerr Country on July Fourth, search and recovery efforts continue as the community picks up the pieces of one of the state's worst natural disasters in years.

Officials in Texas are facing mounting questions about whether they did enough to get people out of harm's way before a flash flood swept down the Guadalupe River and killed