The downpours that swept away a children's summer camp and wreaked deadly havoc on huge areas of Texas caught holidaymakers by surprise. As the death toll passes 90 people, questions are being raised about whether adequate flood warnings were provided and why people weren't evacuated ahead of the deluge.

Officials are being pressed about their response and whether there could have been a better warning system.

HUNT, Texas (AP) — Crews used backhoes and their bare hands Wednesday to dig through piles of debris that stretched for miles in the search for more than 160 people believed to be missing in the flash floods that laid waste to state’s Hill Country.

The death toll in Kerr County crept up to 87 on Tuesday as search and rescue efforts continued in flood-ravaged central Texas, according to officials in the county worst hit by the disaster, which has killed more than 100 people.