A baby who was rescued from Hurricane Harvey had her photos taken in the Cajun Navy boat that rescued her.
Baby Hope, from Beaumont, Texas, was just 10 days old when she was rescued from Harvey’s floodwaters.
Relieved that she was able to make it out of the storm safe and alive, her family did Hope’s newborn photo shoot in the same boat that rescued her from the treacherous storm.
On August 30 she, her parents Emily and Levi Chimeno and her two siblings were all air lifted to Lake Charles to wait out the storm.
Emily told the Beaumont Enterprise that the infant was able to sleep through the entire ordeal.
Baby Hope, from Beaumont, Texas, was just 10 days old when she was rescued from Harvey’s floodwaters by a Cajun Navy baot
Relieved that she was able to make it out of the storm safe and alive, her family did Hope’s newborn photo shoot in the same boat that rescued her from the treacherous storm.
Speaking about that day, she said she wasn’t worried about her house flooding so much as wading through floodwaters with a c-section scar.
When the storm struck the East Texas area the family had to decide if they wanted to evacuate to higher ground.
Once they had made their decision they flagged down a Cajun Navy boat and left home with all three children, some of their neighbors and their pets.
A man who lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Casan Courville, decided to take the group to a shelter in his home town of Lake Charles.
Speaking about that day, Emily (pictured) said she wasn’t worried about her house flooding so much as wading through floodwaters with a c-section scar.
It took them about five hours to travel across the state and get to the shelter at Burton Coliseum in the town.
‘When we got to the coliseum, a really sweet lady kept coming by to check on us,’ Emily said.
‘I had baby hope in my arms, and the lady seemed very concerned about us staying at a shelter with two young children and a newborn.’
The woman, Melissa Viator, took them to her home.
After a few phone calls and some discussion, Viator realized she knew the owner of the Cajun Navy boat.
She then set up a lunch for everyone at the owner – Chris Sanford’s – house.
At that lunch Sanford’s wife Katy asked Emily if Hope had done her newborn photos yet.
When she said no, Katy surprised her by saying a friend would come over and do them right then and there.
Emily, who is pictured before Hope’s birth, said she thinks the story is a good reminder that, in life, ‘it’s the people that matter, not the stuff’
‘She also offered for us to take the pictures at her house so we could get some pics with the boat that started it all,’ Emily said.
Katy and the photographer Noelle Mills set up the shoot and made Hope a onesie reading ‘I survived Hurricane Harvey.’
‘We were blessed again and again by the people of Louisiana, and Hope is our little hero because people have extra compassion when a tiny baby is involved,’ Emily said.
She also said she thinks the story is a good reminder that, in life, ‘it’s the people that matter, not the stuff.’
Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on all of Houston and its surrounding areas and parts of Louisiana. At least 70 people have died as a result of the storm, and damage could cost up to $75 billion.