The Georgia Department of Transportation paid $2.5 million to settle claims arising from the deaths of a mother and her two children who drowned when their SUV hydroplaned and overturned into a flooded ditch in rural southwest Georgia.

The driver, who was the father of one of the children and was engaged to their mother, struggled to free them but was unable to save their lives, according to the lawyers handling the case.

In addition to the settlement, GDOT has agreed to re-engineer the 1930s-era highway to avoid similar events on the flood-prone stretch of road, the lawyers said.