The “extreme precipitation” that occurred in all three places is becoming increasingly common and more intense due toclimate change, according to experts.“These are roughly one-in-1,000-year events, [and] would be extremely rare in the absence of human-caused warming,

As a succession of thunderstorms fed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry pummeled Texas' Hill Country, tools used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to detect extreme rainfall began “maxing out the color charts.

Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.

There was little indication of how torrential the Texas downpours would become before dawn. At least 27 people were killed, many of them children at Camp Mystic.

Climate change is making severe storms worse, heightening the need for the development of advanced forecasting models, but severe storm research is on the chopping block.

The White House is defending the National Weather Service and accusing some Democrats of playing politics in the wake of devastating floods in Texas.

Texas Hill Country is no stranger to extreme flooding. In the rugged, rolling terrain it’s known for, heavy rains collect quickly in its shallow streams and rivers that can burst into torrents like the deadly flood wave that swept along the Guadalupe River on July 4.

"Let's put an end to the conspiracy theories and stop blaming others," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement.