Police on Thursday said two brothers, ages 2 and 4, who were swept away Monday night when waves of water crashed into an SUV driven by their mother in Staten Island were found dead.

Glenda Moore left her Staten Island home with two children and was driving to a family member’s house in Brooklyn when her car became submerged underwater. She freed her two kids from their car seats but rushing waves of water swept the kids away from her arms.

"It went over their heads… She had them in her arms, and a wave came and swept them out of her arms," the mother’s aunt told the NY Daily News.

Local Staten Island newspapers have reported the mother unsuccessfully tried to get help from neighbors but the New York Daily News is reporting another side of the story:

According to the sister, a dripping-wet Moore banged on doors looking for help in the middle of the hurricane, but couldn’t find anyone willing to help her.

"They answered the door and said, ‘I don’t know you. I’m not going to help you,’" said the sister. "My sister’s like 5-foot-3, 130 pounds. She looks like a little girl. She’s going to come to you and you’re going to slam the door in her face and say, ‘I don’t know you, I can’t help you’?’"

Moore spent the night huddled on a doorstep as the hurricane’s assault continued. At daybreak, her sister said, the desperate mother walked until she found a police car and related her heart-breaking story.

The UK’s Daily Mail is also reporting Moore visited a second house in search for help:

Her cousin Nancy Jean, 41, fought back tears as she described the ordeal.

‘I can’t believe the way she was treated by the people she went to for help,’ she said.

‘The first person she knocked on, she begged them and said: "Please call 911".

‘They told her: "I don’t know you" and closed the door. She tried another door but they turned the lights off.

Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2, are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims.