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.

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.

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.