Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.

Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.

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

Twice, the Texas Division of Emergency Management turned down Kerr County's requests for money to improve flood warnings.

As of 6:25 p.m. on Wednesday, 96 people — 60 adults and 36 children — are dead after Hill Country flooding, Kerr County officials said.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an "after-action" would follow the search and rescue efforts. "Those questions are gonna be answered," he added.

Ninety-six of those killed were in the hardest-hit county in central Texas, Kerr County, where the toll includes at least 36 children. State officials vowed to continue searching for over 160 people still missing but have acknowledged the dwindling chances of finding survivors alive a week after the disaster.

Local officials in Kerr County continue facing public scrutiny after days of seeming to deflect questions about their preparedness and response to the July 4 flash flood that left dozens dead.