Officials warned that the full extent of the catastrophe is unknown and unaccounted victims could still be found amid the massive piles of debris.

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.

Local officials have faced angry questions about whether they could have warned people of dangerous flash floods in Texas Hill Country sooner. Rescue teams from neighboring states and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for survivors,

Officials are being pressed about their response and whether there could have been a better warning system.