Crews are using construction equipment to clear vehicles, trees and homes in a race to locate the 161 people still missing since Friday’s devastating flood.

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.

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,

Days after flash floods killed over 100 people during the July Fourth weekend, search-and-rescue teams are using heavy equipment to untangle and peel away layers of trees, unearth large rocks in riverbanks and move massive piles of debris that stretch for miles in the search for the missing people.

Virginia Hollis is one of the girls missing from Camp Mystic, according to a social media post from Bregman. She was staying in Cabin Twins 2 when floodwaters from the Guadalupe rushed through the campgrounds. Ellen is a missing Camp Mystic camper, according to her family.

Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority have tried several times to get funding to upgrade flood alerts on the river, dating back to 2016.

Officials in flood-stricken central Texas on Wednesday again deflected mounting questions about whether they could have done more to warn people ahead of devastating flash flooding that killed at least 119 people on July 4.

Twice, the Texas Division of Emergency Management turned down Kerr County's requests for money to improve flood warnings.