At least 120 people have been killed and 173 are still missing as Texas officials deflect questions over the state’s response to the catastrophic flash floods. Kerr County remains at the center of the disaster after the Guadalupe River burst its banks on Friday,

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.

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.

At least 161 people were missing from Kerr County alone, officials said. Several children were among the missing.

Flash floods that hit central Texas devastated Hill Country during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, killing dozens of people.

Texas inspectors approved Camp Mystic’s emergency plan just two days before devastating floods killed over 27 people, mostly children, at the Texas summer camp