'Mamma was saying her prayers': 3-year old whose mother tried saving her reveals

3-year old girl found clinging to her dead mother in freezing floodwaters has told family members that her mother had been saying her prayers.

The woman Collette Sulcer, 41, died on Tuesday after she got swept away by strong currents in Beaumont, Texas while trying to carry her daughter Jordyn to safety.

The little girl was found wearing her pink backpack and suffering hypothermia when rescuers pulled her and her mother's body from the water.

'Mama was saying her prayers,' Jordyn, who was recovering in hospital on Wednesday, told a relative.

'Jordyn told me they were in the yucky water for quite a while,' the relative added.

'It's a tragedy that her mama died, but it's a miracle that Jordyn survived.'

Sulcer had reportedly tried fleeing the floods when it overpowered her and her daughter.

She had pulled into a parking lot along Interstate 10 when her car got stuck.

A witness told authorities she saw Sulcer take her daughter out of the car and try to walk to safety when the current from a flooded canal next to the parking lot swept them away.

They were found floating about half a mile from her car.

Police say the mother fought desperately to keep her child's head out of the water.

Dailymail