Teenager Tries to Save 6-Year-Old Brother, Both Drown in Hurricane Ian

More horror stories continue to surface in the wake of Hurricane Ian which ravaged South Florida taking the lives of 130 people.

A grieving mother is mourning the loss of two of her sons who drowned in a nearby canal in Lehigh on Oct. 5. Tahjir Burrowes, 6, had wandered out of his home wearing only a diaper and a T-shirt.

The severely autistic boy was drawn to water, his mother said, and made it to a hurricane-flooded canal near his home undetected, NBC News reports. Once his 17-year-old brother Tahjon got out of the shower, he immediately knew something was wrong.

“Mom, mom, mom! Tahjir got out of the house!” Tahjon said while banging on his mom’s bedroom door.

Moments later, Lachera Burrowes jumped into her car and rushed to the nearby canal and when she got there, she saw nothing.

“I saw nothing,” she said. “Quiet.”

After calling the police, authorities spent hours searching for the boys. A detective came to her home later to let her know that both of her sons drowned in the canal.

Burrowes knows Tahjon jumped in to save his little brother. Despite being years apart in age, her sons were very close.

The mother says the teen, who was one of her twins, was the one who could help keep Tahjir calm.

“I don’t know if one could be without the other,” Burrows said.

“He could not stand there and not jump in.”

The single mom of three, who lives paycheck to paycheck working as an addiction counselor, has a friend who launched a GoFundMe on her behalf seeking financial assistance for funeral costs.

“We posted a story of them missing in the LEHIGH area of FT. Myers Florida unfortunately they were found later that day of apparent drowning in the nearby canals after hurricane IAN,” the page shared.

An update revealed the funeral arrangements have been made for Oct. 26.