Kerr County officials say they are still focused mainly on the search for survivors with hundreds still missing and weren't yet examining how the emergency response unfolded.

More than 100 people are dead and 150 known to be missing in Texas Wednesday from flooding but questions remain about how the effects of the deadly disaster could have been mitigated.

A "Basic Plan" for emergency response for three Texas counties labeled flash flooding as having a "major" impact on public safety, according to a page on a city website.

A week after catastrophic floods in Central Texas, key questions remain unanswered about how state and local officials prepared for and responded to the disaster.

Kerr County officials have for years talked about the need for a more robust flash-flood warning system, including sirens that would reach people in places with no cell service. But in the absence of that expensive infrastructure, they adopted IPAWS — which cost them nothing — as a way to alert more people by phone.

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.

Kerr County’s emergency manager would have been the one to guide a flash flooding procedure and evacuation plan – ideally established ahead of time – that’s designed to maximize lives saved.

A public backlash is enveloping Kerr County over the local steps taken after the National Weather Service warned of a potential catastrophe.

Even before dozens died in flood waters on July 4, Texas ranked first in the U.S. in number of deaths due to natural disasters.