Kerr County officials did not issue a locally targeted emergency alert to warn people in town of the rapidly rising waters until two days after the deadly flood, according to

The Kerr County Commissioners Court discussed installing early warning sirens as early as 2015, after a deadly flood on Memorial Day. To date, it still has not done so.

New recorded audio from the early hours of July 4 show what first responders were dealing with as flooding led to the deaths of hundred of people in Kerr County.

Texas officials and Hill Country leaders knew the risks of flooding along the Guadalupe. Warnings went unheeded, flood warnings, river gauges and sirens unfunded — and more than 130 Texans died.

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.

Twice, the Texas Division of Emergency Management turned down Kerr County's requests for money to improve flood warnings.

At least 121 people are dead from the devastating flooding in the Texas Hill Country.Kerr County was hit the hardest, with at least 96 deaths, including 36 children. President Donald Trump signed a disaster declaration for the county and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is on the ground there.

Local and state officials who responded to the catastrophic flooding this month in Central Texas defended their actions in an interview with NBC News, saying they did everything in their power to save lives and are now considering what more could be done to prevent future tragedies.