At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an "after-action" would follow the search and rescue efforts. "Those questions are gonna be answered," he added.

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.

The number of people reported missing in Kerr County, Texas, as a result of last week’s flash floods continues to soar. Authorities say search teams combing through the debris and destruction there are looking for more than 160 people who disappeared in the raging waters.

The search for bodies continued nearly a week after deadly flooding in Texas. With 121 people confirmed dead and at least 161 still missing, officials there are facing scrutiny. The National Weather Service issued several watches and warnings before midnight on July 3,

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.