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.

President Donald Trump met with victims' families and surveyed the damage of catastrophic floods that struck the state one week ago.

"The first lady and I are here in Texas to express the love and support and the anguish of our entire nation in the aftermath of this really horrific and deadly flood," Trump said as he spoke at a roundtable event with first responders and local officials.

Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system, including failing to secure roughly $1 million US for a project to better protect Kerr County’s 50,

Kerr County 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.

A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.

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.