The event was held as search crews and volunteers continued to scour miles along the Guadalupe River for the people still missing.

Amid staggering loss, hundreds gathered in mourning and prayer at a Wednesday night vigil for the victims of the July Fourth floods.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been exerting more direct control over the agency, which President Donald Trump has talked about "getting rid of."

Fire crews and trained search dogs from the Bay Area have been deployed to Texas to assist in ongoing rescue efforts as catastrophic flooding continues across the state. As of Wednesday, more than 160 people were missing and at least 100 have died, according to the Associated Press.

A flash flood is a rapid rise of water along a stream or in a low-lying urban area, the National Weather Service said. Flash flooding can result from slow-moving thunderstorms, from numerous thunderstorms that develop repeatedly over the same area, or from heavy rains associated with tropical cyclones.

When the precipitation intensified in the early morning hours Friday, many people failed to receive or respond to flood warnings at riverside campsites known to be in the floodplain.

FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a disaster call center, where, according to one agency official, callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem’s approval for a

Texas police described some of the harrowing rescues they conducted after flash floods engulfed camps and homes in the state's Hill Country.

"There has been a lot of misinformation flying around lately, so let me clarify: the Texas Department of Agriculture has absolutely no connection to cloud seeding or any form of weather modification," Miller said in a statement.

Plus, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts in Donald Trump's domestic policy bill have rural hospitals considering what services they might have to cut.

An 8-year-old girl who aspired to play the lead in an upcoming camp production is among the latest victims of the flooding in Texas.