More than 100 people have been confirmed dead since July 4, when the Guadalupe River in central Texas swelled overnight and triggered flash floods that swept through an area known locally as “Flash Flood Alley.” As the search continues for the more than 160 people who remain missing, investigators working to piece together a timeline of what happened are trying to determine when local officials knew of the potential for catastrophe and what they did to spread the message to people along the river's banks.

Officials, emphasizing their focus on the recovery operations, have been reluctant to detail their alert and emergency preparedness efforts in the lead-up to the deadly disaster. But what’s known for certain is that despite the area’s history of deadly deluges, it lacked public alarms or warning sirens — partly due to the expense required to set them up — that could have woken people up and sent them to higher ground. Read more from Brian K Sullivan, Kara Carlson, and Joe Lovinger today on CityLab: No Alerts Heard in Deadly Texas Flash Flood as 161 Still Missing

— Linda Poon

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