Follow for live updates in the Texas flooding as the death toll rises to 120, as rescue operations start to shift to recovery phase

As crews search for missing people after flash floods killed at least 120 in Texas, cities across the U.S. grapple with rising flood waters.

KERRVILLE, Texas, July 8 (Reuters) - The death toll from the July Fourth flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing.

Texas special session called to address flood warning failures and emergency response after Hill Country flooding caused more than 100 deaths.

According to local authorities, at least 109 people died on July 4 and 5, most of which were swept up in floodwaters from campgrounds along the Guadalupe River. That’s just shy of the 118 deaths reported as a result of Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday ordered state legislators to convene a special session on Monday as the death toll rose to at least 120 people and 172 reported missing in Fourth of July flooding in the Hill Country.

Crews continue searching for victims a day after Gov. Greg Abbott said as many as 161 people could still be missing.

The psychological toll of recovering the bodies of flood victims in Texas is drawing increased attention as the death toll grows.