A stretch of chain-link fence along the Guadalupe River in the Texas town of Kerrville has become a focal point for the community's grief.

President Trump and First Lady Melania met with families in the Texas Hill Country. He praised first responders amid tense talks on flood disaster response.

Jane Ragsdale ran the Heart O' the Hills camp for girls in Kerr County. The camp was between sessions when the deluge hit. The only person killed there was Ragsdale.

In the heart of Kerrville, hundreds gathered Thursday evening for a community vigil honoring the victims of the catastrophic Hill Country flooding — a disaster that has already claimed at least 103 lives in Kerr County, with more than 100 still missing.

Follow for live updates in the Texas flooding as the death toll rises to 120, as rescue operations start to shift to recovery phase

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — 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.

Kerr County repeatedly failed to secure a warning system, even as local officials remained aware of the risks and as billions of dollars were available for similar projects.

Volunteers combing through debris piles from the devastating Central Texas flooding had to sniff out decaying bodies in the “chaotic” initial days of the search-and-rescue efforts.