Kerr County first tried to secure $1 million for a flood warning system in 2017, but could not. Could such a system have prevented loss of life on July 4?

Officials balked at the cost for installing a siren warning system and the potential for sirens to blare in the middle of the night and wake up

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