Newly released satellite images reveal catastrophic damage caused by the Hill Country floods along the Guadalupe River.

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.

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.

Miriam "Holly" Frizzell of Abilene was remembered for her vibrant life and love of the normally tranquil Guadalupe River.

The recent disaster has some thinking back to a similar tragedy almost 40 years ago that occurred in the same month and nearly the same place.

KERR COUNTY, Texas — Kerr County leaders debated the issue of installing emergency sirens along the Guadalupe River nearly a decade ago, but one former official said there was pushback from some residents.

He said he then called his mother, who told them to find higher ground. “By that point, everything was floating. There was nothing to get on top of,” Fell said. “So, I had to swim through a window and hold on to the meter box outside of the house.” Fell said he stood on the metal box for nearly three hours.

Without a modern flood warning system, emergency officials monitor four sensors along the Guadalupe River – including one that was knocked out in the flood.