As tears streamed down their faces, community members looked at the photos attached to a growing memorial wall.

In the early morning hours of July 4th, torrential rains triggered flash flooding in central Texas. At least 120 people were killed, including dozens of children who were at summer camps along the Guadalupe River.

The record of frequent, often deadly floods in Central Texas goes back more than 200 years to July 1819, when floodwaters spilled into the major plazas of San Antonio. That city on the edge of the Hill Country was hit by major floods again in 1913, 1921, 1998 and 2025, to cite a few examples.