This Newborn Baby Has Survived Two Hurricanes
At less than a month old, newborn Gabriella Coane has already survived two major hurricanes in her life - mostly while napping. Gabriella's parents Bruce and Jessica Coane fled their apartment in Houston, Texas, to escape the flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey, and headed to their home in Miami where they were soon hit by Hurricane Irma. Thanks to some quick thinking and a journey of over 1,200 miles, the family of three managed to survive both hurricanes.
Tens of thousands of Texas residents were displaced from their homes as flooding consumed cities all over the area. The Coane family has an apartment in Houston and a home in Miami as part of Bruce's frequent commutes for work, but they were staying in Houston in the days before the hurricane in order to be close to their ob/gyn since Gabriella had just been born.
Gabriella was only about a week old when the storm hit and the roads were flooded, but Jessica said she was not too concerned that they would have to rush back to the doctor for any emergencies. "I wasn't thinking too much about a medical emergency situation, because I had just seen the pediatrician, so I was going into the storm pretty confident," the new mom says. "I just needed to make sure that she was fed and got enough sleep."
Meanwhile, Bruce volunteered at the George R. Brown Convention Center to help out during the storm. "This was really heartbreaking seeing little children, babies, the elderly, and from every walk of life," he wrote in a Facebook post. "The one bright spot was seeing the smile on a child's face when I handed them a toy or stuffed animal."
When the realization that there was potential danger of breathing in toxic fumes or suffering through more of the hurricane's devastating consequences set in, it was enough to convince the Coanes that it was time to leave immediately. Gabriella, however, had not yet received her vaccinations when her parents needed to leave Texas. This meant flying to their home in Miami would not be an option, as Gabriella could easily get sick on the plane. However, Harvey resulted in upwards of $70 billion in damages, making the Coane family's escape by car no easy feat.
In order to avoid the storm, though, they had to take an alternate route. The family was forced to take a 1,200-mile, five-state journey to make it back to Miami. "We had to drive all the way out to Dallas, and it wasn't a straight run," Bruce says.
When the Coanes finally arrived back home in Miami, they thought they were safe until they received news that a Category 4 storm was fast-approaching. "As the days went by and the forecasts said it was going to be a direct hit, that was a little scary," Bruce says. "So eventually we decided we should probably evacuate."
A second long car ride with a newborn is not the most ideal situation for any parent, but Jessica says that after days of dodging one hurricane, she was able to come up with some solutions for the long road ahead. "It wasn't going to be my first rodeo," she laughs. Gabriella spent most of the drive sleeping in her carseat.
With many hotels sold out and some already flooded, however, the search for an open room was no easy task. Fortunately, the family was finally able to find a hotel in Atmore, Alabama, for three days while Hurricane Irma was passing through Miami.
While at the hotel, Jessica said she was able to make Gabriella feel most comfortable thanks to The Baby Box Company. "It's essentially a makeshift crib full of baby supplies like onesies, diapers and anything that a newborn would need," she said. "It doubles up as a storage device and a crib, and it made me feel more comfortable than borrowing a crib from the hotel because only she's been in it."
Not long afterwards, the family headed back to Texas as they had already made the journey halfway there. Thanks to a long drive and some preemptive thinking, the Coanes and their daughter managed to survive both storms. Needless to say, Gabriella is a survivor and her first few weeks of life have been more than a little eventful.
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