Three hours and 21 minutes. That’s how much time passed from when the National Weather Service sent out its first flash flood warning for part of Kerr County to when the first flooding reports came in from low-lying water crossings.

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

Warnings predicted both Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

New audio reveals what Kerr County first responders were hearing and acting on during the critical first few hours of the devastating floods. | Click to listen

People awoke from water rushing around them during the early morning hours of July 4, all along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. Residents were seemingly caught off guard, but warnings had been issued days and hours before floodwaters began carrying away homes,

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.

Recordings provided to CBS News showed first responders asking for an emergency alert to be sent, but dispatchers delayed because they needed special authorization.

Flash floods last week in Texas caused the Guadalupe River to rise dramatically, reaching three stories high in just two hours