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.

People awoke from water rushing around them during the early morning hours of July 4, all along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. Residents were seemingly caught off guard, but warnings had been issued days and hours before floodwaters began carrying away homes,

Also: San Antonio mourned the victims in a Travis Park vigil; UTSA said one of its teachers died in the Guadalupe River flood; Kerrville officials said a privately owned drone collided with a helicopter conducting search and rescue operations.

Officials balked at the cost for installing a siren warning system and the potential for sirens to blare in the middle of the night and wake up

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

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.

FOX 4’s Steven Dial rode along the Guadalupe River with the sheriff of Andrews County, located in West Texas, to get his first-hand account of the recovery effort.