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.

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,

Daniel Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, believes that long, flat tone the morning of July Fourth saved lives.