Louisiana sheriff breaks down as he describes 'miracle baby' found crawling down highway after brother died in Hurricane Beryl

In a stunning turn of events, a one year old baby boy was discovered alive beside a Louisiana highway after being missing for two days, having braved the harsh conditions brought on by Hurricane Beryl earlier in the week.

Calcasieu Sheriff Stitch Guillory choked back tears as he described the moment the baby was found. He said: "We looked at this one year old as our miracle baby because he was still alive.

"This kid spent two days out in the weather , on the side of the highway. Thank God that trucker seen him. When you look at the video, here he was, crawling toward the highway."

• Hurricane Beryl slams into Texas with '100mph winds' as life-threatening warnings issued
• Map shows Texas power outages still in effect after Hurricane Beryl pummels state

The toddler emerged with nothing more than numerous insect bites after his ordeal. He was otherwise in good health.

The young boy, whose identity has not been disclosed, was initially feared dead after the body of his four year old brother was retrieved from a lake behind the Interstate 10 welcome centre near the Texas border on Monday.

On the same night, the boys' mother, Aaliyah Jack, aged 25, was apprehended by police in Meridian, Mississippi, approximately 350 miles from where her sons were located in Lake Charles. This city is situated in the southwest part of Louisiana, roughly 143 miles east of Houston, Texas, and 206 miles west of New Orleans, and is a mere 37 miles from the Texas border, reports the Irish Star .

A lorry driver reportedly found the one year old crawling along the highway verge and immediately alerted the authorities upon seeing the infant.

Hurricane Beryl hit east Texas Monday morning adding challenges to the desperate search for the child with periods of heavy rain and high wind gusts intermittently affecting the area.

The rescuers prepared to comb the water where the older brother of the baby was found early Tuesday morning when a 911 call came reporting the discovery of the infant.

During the investigation into the four year old's death, authorities discovered that he had been last seen with his mother on Saturday, along with his baby brother. All are from Lake Charles.

The circumstances surrounding the death and why mother fled, leaving her 1 year old son behind, remain unclear. However, after she was arrested on Monday night, Kayla Vincent, a sheriff's spokesperson, stated the only charge pending against the woman was failure to report a missing child as of Wednesday afternoon.

Vincent noted there were currently no additional charges pending against the woman, but investigations are ongoing. She is due to be extradited from Mississippi to Louisiana, and will be held on a $300,000 bond on a Louisiana judge's orders confirmed Guillory.

Online booking records were reportedly not available on Wednesday, and it wasn't clear at the time whether the mother had an attorney yet. Autopsy reports on the 4 year old boy were also pending, it was reported.

His official cause of death has not yet been revealed. 'Miracle baby' found crawling by Louisiana highway after 4 year old brother found dead, mom arrested.