Hovering above the debris-strewn Guadalupe River, drone pilot Jordy Marks scans the flood-ravaged landscape with a quiet determination. As part of a civilian search and rescue team, Marks is helping guide ground crews to areas still untouched nearly a week after deadly floodwaters swept through Central Texas.

Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the y...

“It’s hard not to feel like you are surrounded by a higher power when you’re down there, because it’s just so beautiful,” my friend Olivia Marrus told me.