Three hours and 21 minutes. That’s how much time passed from when the National Weather Service sent out its first flash flood warning for part of Kerr County to when the first flooding reports came in from low-lying water crossings.

Warnings predicted both Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

New audio reveals what Kerr County first responders were hearing and acting on during the critical first few hours of the devastating floods. | Click to listen

People awoke from water rushing around them during the early morning hours of July 4, all along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. Residents were seemingly caught off guard, but warnings had been issued days and hours before floodwaters began carrying away homes,

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.

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.

Flash floods last week in Texas caused the Guadalupe River to rise dramatically, reaching three stories high in just two hours