Boy, 4, swept away from his parents by floodwaters found dead
A four-year-old boy was found dead after being swept away from his parents by floodwaters from a Texas storm.
The boy and his parents were in a vehicle that got stuck in the floodwaters early Sunday on County Road 528 in Burleson, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
A 911 caller around 2am said the child, a woman and a man attempted to walk on dry ground when they were caught in flooding.
First responders rescued the woman and the man and transported them to a hospital around 5am, said the Johnson County Office of Emergency Management.
A couple hours later, the first responders scouring the high waters found the boy dead.
He has been identified as Lucas Warren.
His grieving mother, Chelsey Warren, called him ‘my everything’.
‘I can’t sleep without him,’ she told NBC 5. ‘I can’t, I do everything with him.’
Warren said she and her husband and son visited family members at a home in Johnson County on Saturday night and started heading out early Sunday. They tried to drive through water on the road and became stuck.
‘My car battery died, and then the car started filling up with water, so we grabbed Lucas out of his car seat,’ said Warren.
The water knocked them off their feet and Warren and her husband became separated. The mother said she trod water for over an hour trying to keep Lucas’ head up.
‘A current came up real high, and he just let go,’ she said. ‘And I didn’t hear anything from him. I think he just went under.’
Minutes later, a rescue boat discovered Warren and rushed her to a hospital.
‘Then the sheriff showed up here and told me they found him,’ Warren said. ‘And that he looked really peaceful and that all of his clothes weren’t ripped. He looks like he just went to sleep.’
The mother described Lucas as a ‘bright, sweet, amazing, amazing boy’.
Coming up with money for Lucas’ funeral has become even more complicated for the couple who lost their car, wallets and phones.
‘They are in extreme need and anything y’all can contribute will be used to pay for Lucas’ funeral,’ wrote the father’s brother, Aaron Warren, on a GoFundMe page.
The page had raised more than $38,000 as of Monday evening.
Burleson is about 45 miles southwest of Dallas.
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