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.

Early on the morning of July 4, the Guadalupe River in central Texas overflowed its banks, causing catastrophic flooding. As of July 9, at least 111 people had died, and homes and businesses along the river were washed away in the affected parts of Texas Hill Country,

North Carolina, New Mexico and Texas have all suffered deadly floods in the last week after intense rain storms. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.

As the Guadalupe River swelled from a wall of water heading downstream, sirens blared over the tiny river community of Comfort — a last-ditch warning to get out for those who had missed cellphone alerts and firefighters going street-to-street telling people to get out.

Texas has confirmed 119 deaths as a result of the storms that dangerously raised the Guadalupe River 26 feet in under an hour. On Tuesday, first responders and volunteers fanned out on foot, horseback and boats.