The desperation in Houston is heartbreaking and palpable after Hurricane Harvey's devastation and flooding, and a stunning CNN interview with a flood victim is leaving many viewers in horror at the distressing circumstances there Tuesday.

A Houston mother who fled Hurricane Harvey and rising water in her home managed to reach a shelter Tuesday with her young daughter, a child who appears to be about 9 years old.

When CNN reporter Rosa Flores spotted the mother, Danielle, she asked how the family ended up at the shelter. That's when Danielle explained that she and her daughter had been waiting for someone to rescue them from their home, but no one showed up. So they braved the floods and managed to get to a nearby gas station, where a rescuer arrived and helped them out.

"We had been there for five days with no food, no lights, and nobody came," Danielle explained. "We [had to] go through four feet of water to get them food on the first day. Yeah, that's a lot of s--t."

TRENDING: 'Greater shakings': Jonathan Cahn foresaw 2020 trouble, warns of even more

Then she unloaded on CNN and Flores, blasting them for exploiting flood victims "during their worst times."

(Warning: The following video contains graphic language that may offend some viewers.)

"But ya'll sitting here, ya'll trying to interview people during their worst times," Danielle said. "Like, that's not the smartest thing to do."

Flores replies, "Sorry."

But Danielle continued: "Like, people are really breaking down, and ya'll are sitting here with cameras and microphones, trying to ask us what the f--- is wrong with us! And you ain't really trying to understand ..."

CNN's Flores continued to hold the mic up to the woman, repeating, "I'm so sorry."

The survivor blasted: "... with the microphone still in my face! With me shivering cold! With my kids wet!"

Flores again pointed her mic at the family and repeated, "sorry."

"And you're still putting the microphone in my face!" Danielle shouted before walking away from the cameras with her young daughter.

The eye-opening CNN interview comes just after the network aired segments praising its own efforts in rescuing flood survivors.

In one clip, CNN praised its own crew for allowing a "powerless" man to use its satellite phone to reach his father.

"It was just a little while ago we met one of those people who just seemed helpless," said CNN correspondent Nick Valencia. "Fortunately, we have a satellite phone here, and we were able to connect Aaron Mitchell with his father. What happened was just nothing short of amazing."

Heroic theme music can be heard playing in a video compilation of CNN's clips posted to YouTube by the Daily Caller. The video has been dubbed an "embarrassing display of self-congratulation":

In its coverage, CNN has also attempted to draw a link between Hurricane Harvey and climate change.

In a video posted to YouTube, CNN anchor John Bermin attempted to make the link, but scientist Bill Read, former director of the National Hurricane Center, shut him down: