KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July.

Most summers, Kerrville, Texas, draws crowds for its July 4 celebration. This year, the streets are filled with emergency responders.

More than 111 people have died across six counties after flash flooding from heavy rain began affecting the state last week.

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.

Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

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.

Hundreds of parents waited hours Saturday for girls to arrive in Kerrville after their Camp Waldemar stay was cut short by the deadly Guadalupe River flood.

Meteorologists say incredible amounts of moisture in the air fueled a storm that barely moved over central Texas, creating conditions for fatal flash floods.