POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Polk County family is celebrating after welcoming their newborn during Hurricane Milton.
The young Polk County mother was going into labor just hours after Milton made landfall in Florida. The sheriff's office was clued in about a 911 call around 3 a.m. Thursday. Milton was barreling through northwest and central Florida as a Category 3 hurricane overnight.
Due to Milton's high winds and dangerous downpours, ambulances weren't able to rush in to help, according to a social media post by Sheriff Grady Judd. Instead, deputies responded to the call and met expecting parents Zenia and Javier.
Deputy Calderin helped the couple into her patrol car and was able to bring them to the hospital safely, according to the sheriff. Deputies Jones and Goolsby drove another relative there, too.
The deputies went to check on Zenia later Thursday and learned that she welcomed a baby girl at about 1:30 p.m. One of her first photos was with the deputies who helped her enter this world. The sheriff joked that the newborn needed a little cowboy hat to match the deputies who beamed at her arrival.
Baby Jade can officially say she's made it through her first hurricane.
