Over the last decade, an array of local and state agencies have missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert the type of disaster that swept away dozens of youth campers and others in Kerr County,

A now-viral video posted by Larry Schaubhut Jr. on Friday, July 4, showed the river rising rapidly at the popular River Road property in New Braunfels, reaching 27 feet and sweeping away trees, furniture and gear. Schaubhut, who co-owns River Road Sky Cabins and River Road Treehouses, said he had just evacuated guests when the water surged.

Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

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.

Two days before flash floods on the Guadalupe River in Texas killed dozens of campers at a Christian girls summer camp, a state inspector approved operations, noting there was a written plan for responding to natural disasters.

At least 161 people remain missing in Kerr County, Texas, as authorities and volunteers search the Guadalupe River for victims.

The psychological toll of recovering the bodies of flood victims in Texas is drawing increased attention as the death toll grows.