Devastation can be seen everywhere in Kerrville after weekend flooding struck the area, leaving more than 90 people dead, including 27 girls from Camp Mystic.
The question hangs heavy for many — could this tragedy have been prevented or was Mother Nature simply too powerful to be stopped?
"I don't think there was anything any of us could have done," said Jake Brady from Sisterdale.
"It caught everybody off guard at the worst timing when all the camps were full," said Shanna Taylor from Utopia.
But others disagree. "Somebody knew, somebody knew this was coming," said John Cork from Lewisville.
"You send your kids off to camp. You're excited for them thinking they're going to have a good time and then you never imagine that something tragic would happen or that's the last time you're going to see your kid," said Allison Smith from San Antonio.
The town stands still, with the silence only broken by the sounds of police sirens, helicopters, and search dogs barking.
Despite the tragedy, the community is coming together. "Everyone wanted to pop fireworks but instead we all came together to pray for everyone here in Kerrville," said 15-year-old Devin Torres from Seguin.
"I would be beyond livid if those were my children. They deserve answers," said Cork.
Those answers were addressed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz in a press conference held Monday morning.
"We will have a reasonable conversation about if there are any ways to have earlier detection and some of that limits a flash flood can arise very quickly," Cruz said.
The earlier detection Cruz mentioned is an outdoor warning system, a siren that can be heard for miles. According to the Texas Tribune, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly says local residents have rejected the idea in the past because of the expense that comes with it to local taxpayers.
"Our children are worth it. It's 2025. We needed this 10 years ago, we need it now," Cork said.
Cruz says notifications from the National Weather Service were sent out at 1 and 4 a.m. However, at those times, many people are asleep, and campers and counselors did not have cell phones.
"When you can alert people with the warning sirens that we have, adults would have woken up and would have gotten the children up. That's the way it works and that's the way it's supposed to work," Cork said.
Others believe that even if there was a warning system in place, the pace was still set for destruction.
"I know it happened quickly here so I don't know how much of a difference it would have made," Smith said.
"I think this came so fast and Mother Nature, the force of the rain especially after not having it for so long, it did its thing and this is what we're left with," Brady said.
"Everybody's hearts are breaking or looking for someone to blame or looking for something that can be fixed but sometimes I think we can't overcome everything Mother Nature throws at us. There's just things that you can't predict," Taylor said.
Questions and frustration remain. "Don't just tell me I'm sorry it happened. Fix the problem," one resident said.
But so does hope moving forward.
"There will be another flood, there will be another disaster, but next time we have a flood I hope we have in place processes to remove the most vulnerable out of harm's way," Cruz said.
Volunteers and residents tell me their hearts are set on prayer and they hope to move forward together with hope and strength in the face of loss.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
