BEAUMONT, Texas (WFLA) – Authorities found a shivering toddler clinging to her drowned mother in a rain-swollen canal in Southeast Texas after the woman tried to carry the child to safety from Harvey’s floods.
Capt. Brad Penisson of the fire-rescue department in Beaumont said a witness saw the woman trying to carry her 18-month-old daughter to safety Tuesday afternoon when the current of a flooded drainage canal swept them away.
Her car had stalled in floodwaters and when she grabbed her daughter and got out of the car, floodwater swept them away.
Two police officers and two fire-rescue divers in a boat spotted the mother and child floating in a drainage canal about a half-mile away.
Authorities say the child was holding to her mother and was responsive, but suffering from hypothermia.
She was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.
The mother was unresponsive and efforts to revive her failed.
Officials are urging people to find a safe location and stay there.
“If people will just pay attention to what the authorities in the local communities are telling them. Don’t get out if you don’t have to get out,” said Ken Dollinger, Justice of the Peace.
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