In the early days of July, pieces of weather systems were converging to create a disaster over Texas Hill Country that would transform the Guadalupe River into a monster raging out of its banks in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, claiming the lives of more than 129 people. At least 160 are still missing.

Texas officials and Hill Country leaders knew the risks of flooding along the Guadalupe. Warnings went unheeded, flood warnings, river gauges and sirens unfunded - and more than 130 Texans died.