More than 100 people have been confirmed dead since July 4, when the Guadalupe River in central Texas swelled overnight and triggered flash floods that swept through an area known locally as “Flash Flood Alley.

Texas lawmakers failed to pass a bill in the regular legislative session that would have improved local governments’ emergency communications infrastructure.

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.

KERRVILLE, Texas — Rescuers scoured a devastated central Texas landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris Saturday in an increasingly bleak mission to locate survivors, including 27 girls who have not been seen since their camp was slammed with a wall of water in a historic flash flood.

Rescue teams on Monday continued searching for survivors along the Guadalupe River after deadly flooding in Texas. Meanwhile, officials are facing questions over why Kerr County, part of an area known for its flash floods,