While this is very very sad, no one should die in a rain like this unless one is stupid.
There was not that much wind, and it was slowly rising water. Boats are plentiful.
The only currents that could affect you are in the big drainage ditches. NO reason to be near them unless you are stupid.
A kid was not well placed with parents.
Currents, even the ditches themselves, are not readily apparent when the water is high. CNN had on where the crew was filming and pulled some guy out of his pickup after he drove into one of those ditches. From the crew's location, the current and depth of the water were not apparent, and I don't believe the driver could tell either, or he would have backed up. As it was, it only cost him a pickup.
Note, from the OP:
Penisson said a witness saw the woman take her 18-month-old daughter and try to walk to safety when the swift current of a flooded drainage canal next to the parking lot swept them both away.
Someone on foot
might feel the current, but I question how many people know enough about dealing with unknown water hazards who haven't dealt with them directly to make all the right choices, especially when worn out by events.
The last thing mom did for the kid was provide something to cling to to survive, and it cost her her life to do that.
No kid could ask for more, really, than their mom protect them, even in death.
YMMV
