A mother goes to incredible lengths to save her child from Hurricane Harvey, but at a terrible cost

The disastrous Hurricane Harvey has given many people a chance to show their true character, good or bad, but in one woman's case she displayed the incredible will of a mother to save her life of her child, even at the cost of her own.

Officer Haley Morrow of the Beaumont, Texas, police department explained to Don Lemon the harrowing story that developed Tuesday afternoon.

"This afternoon at about 3:30 our officers responded out to an area on the I-10 on the service road in reference to a high water rescue," she began.

"A Beaumont woman and her child were travelling southbound on the service road and got into high water," Morrow explained, "and she pulled her vehicle into a parking lot and it got stuck. So she got out of her vehicle with her child, and at some point was swept into a canal that was close to that area."

People Magazine reported that the woman was 41 years old and her daughter was three.

"She ended up floating about a half mile from her vehicle," she added. "Two of our officers and fire rescue divers were on a zodiac boat and spotted the mother floating with the child."

"It's just a true testament to a mother's will to save her child in any circumstance," Morrow said.

"The first responders were about to get to the mother and child just before they went under a trestle that was almost completely underwater," she continued.

"Had it been a few more minutes, they would have been swept underneath the bridge and our boat wouldn't have been able to get to them," Morrow added. "The mother was unresponsive but the child was hanging on her back and was suffering from hyperthermia."

"They attempted to perform CPR to save her life, but were unsuccessful" she said. "They were able to actually have a citizen help them load her onto a truck, and get her to a nearby ambulance."

"It's a true testament to a mother's will to save a child": Mom dies in flood as child clung to her body survives https://t.co/Uk6ayFgd4G

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) August 30, 2017

"And Haley," Lemon asked, "how is the baby doing?"

"The baby is good," Morrow responded, "she's in stable condition. And we were finally able to notify some family members and get them to the hospital. "And uh, just a terrible situation it's the baby is doing OK and should make a full recovery."

"It's really heart-breaking," Lemon said.

"It is," Morrow agreed, "it's been weighing heavily on the first responders' hearts, of course, life safety is our number one priority, so it's really difficult to have to deal with a fatality in these circumstances."

"So we're thankful that the child was able to be rescued," she concluded.

"We are too," Lemon said, "we are sorry about the mom, but we are thankful, as you said, about the child."

Hurricane Harvey hit landfall in Texas on Friday and has caused billions in damage while taking nearly a dozen lives already. According to a NOAA meteorologist, Harvey has caused "the heaviest storm-total rainfall from any tropical cyclone in the continental U.S. in records dating to 1950, topping the 48-inch storm total in Medina, Texas, from Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978."