FEMA records show officials in Kerr County, Texas, did not use FEMA's system to send warnings to phones in the hours as the flooding began on July 4.

Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.

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.

Over 12,000 volunteers have already assisted in Kerr County, according to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

As of 6:25 p.m. on Wednesday, 96 people — 60 adults and 36 children — are dead after Hill Country flooding, Kerr County officials said.

Kerr County applied again in 2018, when more federal funding became available after Hurricane Harvey. But meeting minutes indicate that Texas’ emergency authority again did not approve it.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an "after-action" would follow the search and rescue efforts. "Those questions are gonna be answered," he added.