Kerr County failed to secure a warning system, even as local officials remained aware of the risks and as billions of dollars were available for similar projects.

Kerr County first tried to secure $1 million for a flood warning system in 2017, but could not. Could such a system have prevented loss of life on July 4?

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.

At least 120 people have been found dead since heavy rainfall overwhelmed the river and flowed through homes and youth camps in the early morning hours of July 4. Ninety-six of those killed were in the hardest-hit county in central Texas, Kerr County, where the toll includes at least 36 children.

The state leaves building zoning and permits up to the individual counties. And in most non-city counties, such as Kerr, which had 96 deaths as of Thursday due to floods, some officials tend to be lenient towards building owners with restrictions, some state leaders and environmental experts told ABC News.

According to Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county's top elected official, "the public reeled at the cost" of flash flood early warning protections.

Texas special session called to address flood warning failures and emergency response after Hill Country flooding caused more than 100 deaths.

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.