Here's a chronology of chaotic rescue efforts as a flash flood chewed through the Texas Hill Country before dawn July 4 based on first responder

Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 8 is a collaboration between the Ocala, Marion County and Gainesville fire departments.

Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 8 is a collaboration between the Gainesville, Ocala and Marion County fire departments.

Cries for help came from the pitch-black woods, from rooftops and from attics that shifted unsteadily as the water rose. Firefighters and police raced to help, having little guidance on where or how.

Top emergency leaders were asleep or out of town. Using recordings of first responder communications, weather service warnings, survivor videos and official testimony, The Associated Press has assembled a chronology of the chaotic rescue effort as a flash flood barreled east through the Hill Country of Central Texas before dawn on July 4.