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, The three-year-old girl found clinging to her dead mother in freezing floodwaters later told family members that her mother had been saying her prayers. 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.' 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 been trying to flee the floods in her car at about 3.30pm on Tuesday when she became overwhelmed by the flooding roadway. 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. Officer Carol Riley, a spokeswoman for the Beaumont Police Department, said the mother was found by rescuers floating in the canal with her daughter still clinging to her. She said Sulcer 'absolutely saved the child's life they were in the water for quite some time. The mother did the best she could to keep her child up over the water.' The baby also had a backpack that was helping her float on her back and she was holding on to her mom.' Police and fire rescue divers in a boat spotted the mother and child floating. The first responders got to Sulcer and her daughter just before they went under a trestle. Police said the water was already up to the trestle and they would not have been able to save the girl if they had floated under it. They managed to pull Sulcer's body and the girl, who was suffering from hypothermia, into the boat. The mother was pronounced dead shortly after they reached an ambulance. The child is in stable condition and will be released into the care of family members.