Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.

What were Kerr County Officials doing to prepare for the possible flooding ahead of July Fourth? That's the question on many minds in the wake of the recent tragedy.

Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.

NWS says Flash Flood Warnings were issued on July 3 and early July 4 in Central Texas, giving more than three hours of warning.

Many warnings from the National Weather Service went out to Kerr County, Texas, but the area wasn't equipped with sirens to wake residents up.

The National Weather Service issued several forecasts Tuesday through Thursday morning, warning of the risk of flash flooding.

Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.

In the wake of the central Texas flash flooding, after local officials pointed fingers at the National Weather Service for its alerts and forecasts, the agency responded: The NWS alerts gave several hours of lead time,

Residents say Kerr County’s use of CodeRED alerts was sporadic and inconsistent. Local officials have not answered questions about when and how they utilized the system, which has been in place since 2009.

Otherwise, avoid travel.” 4:18 a.m. “Very dangerous flash flooding ongoing in northwest Travis, western Williamson, and Burnet counties. A very slow moving disturbance is producing extreme rainfall rates.