Plans to develop a flood monitoring system in the Texas county hit hardest by deadly floods were scheduled to begin only a few weeks later.

Follow for live updates in the Texas flooding as the death toll rises to 120, as rescue operations start to shift to recovery phase

Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest. The force of floodwater is often more powerful and surprising than people imagine.

At least 120 people are dead and 173 are missing in central Texas after the Guadalupe River swelled early Friday, causing destructive flash flooding throughout Kerr County.Now, new before-and-after satellite images of several sites throughout Kerry County show the devastation caused by the floods as crews embark on a seventh day of search and rescue efforts.

As the Guadalupe River swelled from a wall of water heading downstream, sirens blared over the tiny river community of Comfort — a last-ditch warning to get out for those who had missed cellphone alerts and firefighters going street-to-street telling people to get out.

Rain rushing to the Guadalupe took it from a depth of less than 8 feet to 37.5 feet, a deluge with as much volume as an aircraft carrier over five minutes.

With more than 170 still missing, communities must reconcile how to pick up the pieces around a waterway that remains both a wellspring and a looming menace.

The Guadalupe River in Texas surged 26 feet in just 45 minutes. It caught everyone off guard - What began as a routine flood developed into a deadly disaster, with the death toll now in triple digits