In the days after the devastating flood that killed dozens in Central Texas, local officials have deflected direct questions about preparations and warnings in advance of the storm that struck July Fourth.

Eyewitness Tonia Fucci recounted the destruction that followed deadly floods in Comfort, central Texas, near the Guadalupe River on July 4.

Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend’s house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him. Hours later,

Janie Hunt was the great-granddaughter of the late American oil baron William Herbet Hunt and a cousin of Clark Hunt, the current owner of the Kansas

More than an entire summer’s worth of rain fell in some spots in central Texas in just a few hours early on the Fourth of July, quickly overwhelming dry soils and creating significant flash flooding. Central Texas is currently home to some of the worst drought in the United States and bone-dry soils flood very quickly.