Local officials emphasized the need for river gauges and real-time rainfall monitoring to better predict flash floods.

F or the first time since catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people in Kerr County, Texas, the county emergency management director conceded that he was sick and asleep as the water rose to historic levels on the Guadalupe River.

Local leaders in central Texas are facing more tough questions Thursday as state lawmakers – and survivors – again press for information about the responses to July 4 flash flooding that killed at least 136 people.