Florida deputies help pregnant woman in labor during Milton
(The Hill) – Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that some of the office's deputies helped transport a pregnant woman to the hospital early Thursday morning as she was going into labor amid the widespread power outages, high winds and flooding that Hurricane Milton brought to Central Florida.
Judd explained in an online post that his office had received a 911 call about a woman going into labor amid the storm, but the winds prevented ambulances from being able to assist.
However, "deputies responded to the residence and met Zenia and Javier, the expecting parents," Judd wrote in a post on social platform X.
"Deputy Calderin assisted Zenia and Javier into her patrol car and they made their way to the hospital, while deputies Jones and Goolsby drove one of their relatives there," he wrote alongside a photo of the three deputes with Zenia and her newborn Jade.
The sheriff noted that the office's deputies had gone back to the hospital later in the day "to check up on everyone."
Nexstar's WFLA reported that Polk County Director of Emergency Management Paul Womble confirmed Friday that crews are now turning their focus to assessing damage and cleanup efforts.
“Yesterday was about response, search and rescue, life safety. … We’re focusing today on really several things,” Womble said, adding that crews will be out clearing roads and collecting debris.
As of Friday morning, more than 2.3 million people are still without power in Florida following the storm — which made landfall Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane — according to PowerOutage.us.
CNN reported Friday that at least 16 people have died as a result of the storm. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he anticipates more casualties.