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.

FEMA records show Kerr County officials did not use FEMA’s system to send warnings to phones in the critical hours as the flooding began on July 4.

A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.