On July 4, intense rainfall pounded the Hill Country region of central Texas, triggering a flash flood that rapidly inundated local communities. As the water flooded the area, so too did messages and radio alerts from the National Weather Service warning people to seek higher ground.

However, these messages lacked orders for specific locations to evacuate—a decision that is up to local officials. For many people in Kerr County, the hardest hit by the floods , that message didn’t come until well after the water had already swept away their homes, belongings and many of their loved ones, ProPublica reports .

More than two months after the Hill Country disaster that killed at least 135 people, federal and local officials are still unraveling what went wrong with local alert usage and protoc

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