Days after devastating floods swept through the Texas Hill Country, the community of Kerrville is still grappling with the damage, loss, and a growing demand for answers.Standing well off the banks of the Guadalupe River,

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.

Many Catholics in the region have been stepping up to help, converging on Notre Dame Parish in Kerrville, located in the hardest-hit community along the Guadalupe River.

Before hundreds of first responders and volunteers from around the country came to help, it was the local residents of Texas Hill Country who faced down a deadly wall of water along the Gaudalope River and witnessed terrifying scenes.

Despite officials urging civilians to stay away, volunteers have joined the search for missing people and the cleanup on the Guadalupe River.

Sunday is a day of prayer across Texas. But as many filed into churches, first responders and volunteers filed into Kerr County, holding out up in their search and rescue efforts.

New human settlements constructed in recent years have made the waterway more hazardous, UT-Arlington civil engineering professor says.