While local and state officials in Texas have said they were caught off guard by the severity of the flooding, the region is prone to extreme flooding, Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.

The loss of more than 100 lives, many of them children, to Hill Country floods over the July Fourth weekend has shaken Texans to the core. Closer to home, at least 16 people have died in floods in the Austin area .More than 170 people are still reported missing.

In the wake of disaster, people are relying on the volunteer fire department, the backbone of the Hill Country.