A one-year-old baby survived two days in stormy weather before being spotted crawling along the roadside by a truck driver.
Days earlier, his four-year-old brother was found dead and his mum was arrested, according to a sheriff in Louisiana.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Gary ‘Stitch’ Guillory said the baby had numerous bug bites but otherwise appeared to be in good condition.
Post-mortem examination reports were pending on the four-year-old who was found on Monday, Mr Guillory said during a Tuesday news conference in Lake Charles, about 200 miles west of New Orleans.
The body had been found in a lake behind an Interstate 10 welcome centre near the Texas state line.
The four-year-old had last been seen on Saturday with his mother, Aaliyah Jack, 25, of Lake Charles, and the one-year-old.
Fearing the one-year-old was dead, authorities prepared on Tuesday morning to search the water where the dead child was found.
Then a truck driver called emergency services after spotting the baby.
Visibly moved, Mr Guillory said: ‘We look at this one-year-old as our miracle baby because he was still alive.’
Hurricane Beryl struck east Texas early on Monday, and the search for the child played out amid bands of intermittent, heavy rain and high wind gusts.
He added: ‘This kid spent two days out in the weather on the side of the highway. Thank God that trucker seen him.’
Jack was arrested on Monday night in Meridian, Mississippi, more than 350 miles from where her children were found.
She was to be extradited to Louisiana, where she faced a charge of failure to report a missing child.
A Louisiana judge has set a bail of £233,500 as the investigation continues.
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