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 storied Guadalupe River meanders through this Texas Hill Country town and into the unincorporated parts of Kerr County like a vein.

Historic Texas flood leaves 161 missing and 96 dead. Rescuers battle harsh conditions, as communities grapple with heartache and aid reaches survivors.

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

As the search for victims continues, county officials say "additional resources" are being deployed as the "mission efforts become more technical."

Officials in Kerr County, where the majority of the deaths from the July 4 flash floods occurred, have yet to detail what actions they took in the early hours of the disaster.

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

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.

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.