Kerr County first tried to secure $1 million for a flood warning system in 2017, but could not. Could such a system have prevented loss of life on July 4?

Officials balked at the cost for installing a siren warning system and the potential for sirens to blare in the middle of the night and wake up

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.