A search team in Tennessee uncovered the body of a toddler in the wreckage of last weekend's deadly storm - authorities suspect it's a 2-year-old boy who was ripped from his mother's arms by floods.
The boy, Kellen Cole Burrow, is one of 50 people still missing in the aftermath of the weekend floods that killed at least 21 people in the state. As of 3 pm, it is uncertain whether the recovered body is his.
Burrow's family was summoned to Three Rivers Hospital in Waverly after the toddler's body was found early Tuesday morning. They were told by staff that it would take a couple of hours to confirm his identity through DNA testing.
The flash floods came after 17 inches of rain fell over parts of Tennessee in a 24-hour period Saturday, which smashed the state's previous single-day record of 9.45 inches in 2010, according to the National Weather Service Nashville.
The family was surprised by the deluge and the boy's mother, Brittney LeAnn McCord, grabbed onto the clothes line and held onto her five children. Outside their family's apartment, she held on as the waters rose before the powerful surge pulled Kellen from her arms, the Tennessean reported.
A DailyMail.com reporter was on the scene when the boy's grandfather, Chris Hixson, received the news around 1 pm Tuesday as he searched for the child's body along the banks of a creek in downtown Waverly. He was just a few miles from where twin babies drowned on Saturday.
'They got him,' Hixson cried, as he looked down at his phone. 'I need to get hold of my wife and daughter,'
He drove about a mile to the hospital, where he said to a nurse: 'We was told they might have found a body - a young child's body.'
A doctor in a blue gown told Hixson: 'There's a toddler found - we want to confirm if it's him. Through DNA.'
Then, Hixson drove to a nearby church to wait for results with his wife and children, who were loading supplies into trucks to help with recovery efforts.
Two-year-old Kellen Cole Burrow was swept from his mother's arms during Saturday's catastrophic flooding in Tennessee that has killed at least 21. The body of a toddler recovered on Tuesday could be his - as of 3 pm, DNA testing results have not been completed
Missing toddler Kellen Cole Burrow (pictured far-right) in the arms of his mother Brittney LeAnn McCord (second from right) alongside his step-father Kalaub McCord (second from left) and their other four children
Kalaub McCord, Kellen's stepfather, recalled the last time he saw the toddler, before he headed to a nearby emergency room for treatment for a painful sinus infection
The boy's stepfather, Kalaub McCord, was away that night, seeking treatment for a sinus infection at a nearby emergency room before the roads became clogged with floodwater.
'I seen him that night when we put him to bed, but she had him in her arms whenever he got swept away,' he told Fox 17.
It took McCord five hours to return to his family home. He helped others along the way, including two elderly women who couldn't swim, but he was unable to return to his wife and children in time.
'I couldn’t get back to him, but she managed to save our other four children. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have any children right now,' McCord said.
Also missing is 15-year-old Lilly Bryant, who had just started her freshman year of high school.
'Loved everybody, loved to make people laugh,' family friend Chelsea Simons told Fox 17. 'There’s not another one like her.'
Amy Ladd, 43, (pictured) was looking for friend Lilly Bryant, 15, today. The girl was last seen holding onto a dresser in the floodwaters
Cheyanna Bryant trawled the Trace Creek today with her family and friends in search of the body of her 15-year-old sister Lilly Bryant
Lilly Bryant, 15, (pictured) was last seen clutching a dresser in the floodwaters. She was poised to start her freshman year of high school
Saturday's floodwaters in Tennessee swept away homes, vehicles and rural roads in Waverly, Tennessee (pictured)
At least 4,200 people across the state have lost power, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
As of Tuesday afternoon at least 22 people were confirmed dead, and 50 remained missing as a result of the flooding, according to the New York Times
Rains in Humphreys County Saturday shattered the previous single-day record of 9.45 inches in 2010
'If we don’t find her tonight, we’ll be right back here in the morning as soon as daylight breaks to
