Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.

"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.

Heavy rain poured over parts of central Texas, dumping more than a month's worth of rain for places like San Angelo.

As a succession of thunderstorms fed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry pummeled Texas' Hill Country, tools used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to detect extreme rainfall began “maxing out the color charts.

Flooding is the deadliest natural disaster facing Oklahomans, a threat far greater than tornadoes. In the United States, flooding kills an average of 103 people a year. Tornadoes, however, caused 48 deaths on average during the same period, according to the National Weather Service.

Last week’s devastating Hill Country flooding is likely to feature heavily in a Wednesday hearing on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Neil Jacobs

Some regions in the mid-Atlantic are also facing risks of flooding. On Sunday, Tropical Storm Chantal flooded parts of North Carolina, where more than 10 inches of rain fell near the Chapel Hill area. The Haw River, near Bynum, North Carolina, crested to nearly 22 feet, the highest crest on record there, as a result of those heavy rains.