A newly surfaced video shows Kerr County commissioners and residents in 2021 delaying over $10 million in federal funds —dismissing it as "Biden money"—that could have been used for critical infrastructure upgrades. The decision is now under fire after the destructive July 4 Texas floods exposed weaknesses in the county's emergency systems.

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

Over 12,000 volunteers have already assisted in Kerr County, according to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an "after-action" would follow the search and rescue efforts. "Those questions are gonna be answered," he added.

Federal forecasters issued their first flood warning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Local officials haven’t shed light on when they saw the warnings or whether they saw them in time to take action.

FEMA records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates show that Kerr County officials did not use FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System to send warnings with safety instructions to all mobile phones in the affected area during critical hours as the flooding began on July 4.

Kerr County first tried to secure $1 million for a flood warning system in 2017, but could not. Could such a system have prevented loss of life on July 4?

Since 2016, the topic of a "flood warning system" for Kerr County has come up at 20 different county commissioners' meetings, according to minutes. The idea for a system was first introduced by Kerr County Commissioner Thomas Moser and Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas in March 2016.

Historic Texas flood leaves 161 missing and 96 dead. Rescuers battle harsh conditions, as communities grapple with heartache and aid reaches survivors.

The same region of Texas that experienced catastrophic, deadly flooding over the Fourth of July weekend also experienced massive flooding in the past. A 1987 flood in Kerr County resulted in the death of 33 people,