Religion and the river are constant Kerr County touchstones. As residents lean on their faith, they grapple with their relationship to the water.

Plans to develop a flood monitoring system in the Texas county hit hardest by deadly floods were scheduled to begin only a few weeks later.

Also: San Antonio mourned the victims in a Travis Park vigil; UTSA said one of its teachers died in the Guadalupe River flood; Kerrville officials said a privately owned drone collided with a helicopter conducting search and rescue operations.

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

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.

According to Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's top elected official, "the public reeled at the cost" of flash flood early warning protections.

Rain rushing to the Guadalupe took it from a depth of less than 8 feet to 37.5 feet, a deluge with as much volume as an aircraft carrier over five minutes.

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.