Officials said more than 850 people had been rescued after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain across the region.

Officials warned that the full extent of the catastrophe is unknown and unaccounted victims could still be found amid the massive piles of debris.

Here's what to know about the deadly flooding, the colossal weather system that drove it and ongoing efforts to identify victims.

There's no sense in finger-pointing over whether or not alerts went out fast enough in Texas, said Landry. As she sees it, preparing for the weather comes down to knowing the landscape where you live and planning out what to do if disaster strikes. "You have to be aware and prepared," she said.

Q: Is it true that if President Donald Trump hadn’t defunded the National Weather Service, the death toll in the Texas flooding would have been far lower or nonexistent? A: The Trump administration did not defund the NWS but did reduce the staff by 600 people.

A study puts the spotlight on Texas as the leading U.S. state by far for flood-related deaths, with more than 1,000 of them from 1959 to 2019.

A National Weather Service advisory warned of another 2-4 inches of rain falling in the region − and isolated areas could see 9-12 inches.