With more than 170 still missing, communities must reconcile how to pick up the pieces around a waterway that remains both a wellspring and a looming menace.

The recent disaster has some thinking back to a similar tragedy almost 40 years ago that occurred in the same month and nearly the same place.

In what experts call "Flash Flood Alley," the terrain reacts quickly to rainfall steep slopes, rocky ground, and narrow riverbeds leave little time for warning.

More than 100 people have been confirmed dead since July 4, when the Guadalupe River in central Texas swelled overnight and triggered flash floods that swept through an area known locally as “Flash Flood Alley.

At least 118 people are dead and dozens are still missing after devastating flash floods slammed Texas Hill Country, with water rescues taking place along the Guadalupe River, which rose rapidly early Friday morning to the height of a two-story building.

Search teams persisted in sifting through debris in Texas Hill Country on Wednesday as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 110 people,