A stretch of chain-link fence along the Guadalupe River in the Texas town of Kerrville has become a focal point for the community's grief

With more than 170 still missing, communities must reconcile how to pick up the pieces around a waterway that remains both a wellspring and a looming menace.

In what experts call "Flash Flood Alley," the terrain reacts quickly to rainfall steep slopes, rocky ground, and narrow riverbeds leave little time for warning.

President Trump has not talked about eliminating FEMA as the emergency response agency helps with recovery efforts from the Texas floods.

The organizations working together to help the flood victims said that 'no additional in-kind donations (clothing, food, supplies) are needed in Kerrville.' They said the best way to help is with monetary donations.

Officials in Kerr County, where the majority of the deaths from the July 4 flash floods occurred, have yet to detail what actions they took in the early hours of the disaster.

Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.

Plans to develop a flood monitoring system in the Texas county hit hardest by deadly floods were scheduled to begin only a few weeks later.