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,

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.

And yet, what happened in the early hours on Friday, when catastrophic flooding struck with a surge topping 20 feet, soon became a perfect storm turned into a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy. I first heard about the flood on Friday morning,