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.

At least 161 are still unaccounted for after the July Fourth floods that saw the waters of the Guadalupe rise to historic levels in Central Texas, officials with Kerr County said Friday. Authorities have confirmed 103 deaths, 36 of whom are children.

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.

After hearing a young woman scream for her life on the flooded Guadalupe River, Carl Jeter called first responders to rescue her after she tread water for 15 miles.

Camille Santana tragically lost her life during the Fourth of July floods that swept through Central Texas. Three other members of her family remain missing.

Multiple urban search and rescue teams from across the country that responded to the deadly floods in central Texas told CNN they were not deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency until at least Monday evening — days after any victim had been found alive.

The data also highlights critical risks in other areas along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, and nationwide as many Americans have a flood risk they are not aware of.

A study puts the spotlight on Texas as the leading U.S. state by far for flood-related deaths, with more than 1,000 of them from 1959 to 2019.