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,

At least 120 people have died and some 173 people remain unaccounted for statewide, nearly a week after flash floods ravaged the Texas Hill Country.

Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.

"I thought my mom was going to die in front of me," said Taylor Bergmann, a 19-year-old who fought to save the people in his family after the Guadalupe River smashed through their home.

Kerr County, Texas, lacked a “last mile” warning mechanism that could have saved residents before the deadly floods devastated the area, including a children’s summer camp, killing more than 80 people.

When the precipitation intensified in the early morning hours Friday, many people failed to receive or respond to flood warnings at riverside campsites known to be in the floodplain.

A "Basic Plan" for emergency response for three Texas counties, including Kerr County, labeled flash flooding as "highly likely" to occur, with a "major" impact on public health and safety, according to an ABC News review of a page on the Kerrville city website.

SAN ANTONIO — Five days after the waters of the Guadalupe River rose and overwhelmed much of Kerr Country on July Fourth, search and recovery efforts continue as the community picks up the pieces of one of the state's worst natural disasters in years.