Along the Guadalupe River, a 60-room inn and nearby homes were quickly filling with water. Confusion, desperation and heroism ensued.

Daniel Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department, believes that long, flat tone the morning of July Fourth saved lives.

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.

Hovering above the debris-strewn Guadalupe River, drone pilot Jordy Marks scans the flood-ravaged landscape with a quiet determination. As part of a civilian search and rescue team, Marks is helping guide ground crews to areas still untouched nearly a week after deadly floodwaters swept through Central Texas.

Hundreds of children at summer campsites along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County were at risk early Friday when a catastrophic flash flood killed at

Camille Santana tragically lost her life during the Fourth of July floods that swept through Central Texas. Three other members of her family remain missing.

Volunteers combing through debris piles from the devastating Central Texas flooding had to sniff out decaying bodies in the “chaotic” initial days of the search-and-rescue efforts.

At least 119 people have been found dead in nearly a week since heavy rainfall overwhelmed the river and flowed through homes and youth camps in the early morning hours of July 4. Ninety-five of those killed were in the hardest-hit county in central Texas, Kerr County, where the toll includes at least three dozen children.