A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday that 120 people have died in the central Texas floods. Follow for live updates.

The number of confirmed deaths from the Texas Hill Country floods rose to 95 in Kerr County on Wednesday, Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

Over the last decade, an array of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert a disaster like the one that killed dozens of young campers and scores of others in Kerr County on the Fourth of July.

Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

As of 6:25 p.m. on Wednesday, 96 people — 60 adults and 36 children — are dead after Hill Country flooding, Kerr County officials said.

Kerr County and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority have tried several times to get funding to upgrade flood alerts on the river, dating back to 2016.

Twice, the Texas Division of Emergency Management turned down Kerr County's requests for money to improve flood warnings.