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

Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

A small Texas town that recorded no deaths in last weekend’s flood disaster had recently upgraded its emergency alert system — the kind of setup state, county and federal officials

The first weather emergency alert sent by the National Weather Service with urgent language instructing people to "seek higher ground now" was sent at 4:03 a.m. local time.

Flooding is the deadliest natural disaster facing Oklahomans, a threat far greater than tornadoes. In the United States, flooding kills an average of 103 people a year. Tornadoes, however, caused 48 deaths on average during the same period, according to the National Weather Service.

A 2024 RAND report found Texas cellphone users opted out of wireless emergency alerts at the highest rate. Nearly 30% of Texans chose to turn off at least one kind of wireless alert, a choice researchers partly attributed to exhaustion from the large number of statewide alerts.

CBS News analysis shows there were 22 warnings sent by the National Weather Service for Kerr County and the Kerrville area, but many residents say they didn't get alerts.

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While the type of flooding we typically see in Houston is vastly different than the flash flooding along the Guadalupe River, the way emergency officials offer warnings is similar.

Joined by first lady Melania Trump and officials, Trump surveyed the devastation and met with victims' families and emergency responders.