Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

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.

At least 120 people are dead and 173 are missing in central Texas after the Guadalupe River swelled early Friday, causing destructive flash flooding throughout Kerr County.Now, new before-and-after satellite images of several sites throughout Kerry County show the devastation caused by the floods as crews embark on a seventh day of search and rescue efforts.

The Texas Hill Country has been notorious for flash floods caused by the Guadalupe River. Here's why the area is called "Flash Flood Alley."

Flash floods last week in Texas caused the Guadalupe River to rise dramatically, reaching three stories high in just two hours.

Jane Towler was up late in a small cabin along the Guadalupe River as thunder boomed through a thrashing rain. It was 4 a.m. and water was pooling on the floor. “Jane, we’re f—ed!” Brian Keeper said frantically.

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.

FOX 4’s Steven Dial rode along the Guadalupe River with the sheriff of Andrews County, located in West Texas, to get his first-hand account of the recovery effort.

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.

Blistering sun and July heat and humidity will provide challenges for recovery and cleanup efforts in the aftermath of the Guadalupe River flood disaster, AccuWeather meteorologists say.