Newborn Rescued In Harvey Floods Takes Photos In Cajun Navy Boat

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Newborn photo shoots are always so adorable to see. Photographers get really creative when it comes to themes for these shoots and sometimes a memento of sentimental meaning to the family is somehow incorporated into the shoot.

For one family who had photos of their newborn taken, could not have chosen props with any more significance to their baby’s first few days in the world.

A baby who was rescued from Harvey flood waters at just 10 days old will have a sweet memento of the experience when she grows up. Adorable newborn photos were taken of her in the Cajun Navy boat that rescued her.

In the pictures, Baby Hope of Beaumont, Texas, is pictured lying on an orange life vest in the boat after her family was taken to the Lake Charles area to wait out the storm on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

Her Mother, Emily Chimeno, said that Hope slept through the entire ordeal.

The family was at home when Harvey struck the East Texas area, while they tried to decide whether or not they should evacuate to higher ground.

Chimeno was not particularly worried about her house flooding, however, did not want to get caught wading through floodwaters with a c-section scar, she said, on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

So Chimeno and her husband, Levi, flagged down a Cajun Navy boat and left their home along with their three kids, neighbors and pets.

Then, a Lake Charles man named Casan Courville offered the group a ride to safety in his home town. It took them about 5 hours to get to a shelter at the Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.

“When we got to the coliseum, a really sweet lady kept coming by to check on us,” Chimeno 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, decided to take Chimeno’s family to her house, and following a phone call from the Cajun Navy boat owner, Chis Sanford, Viator and Sanford realized that they knew each other and planned a lunch for everyone at Sanford’s house.

At the lunch, Sanford’s wife, Katy, asked Chimeno if she had had newborn pictures taken yet. “She surprised me by saying her friend would come over and do newborn pics for us!” Chimeno said. “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!”

Katy Sanford and photographer Noelle Mills, set up the photo shoot and made baby Hope a onesie that said “I survived Hurricane Harvey.” The photos have since been shared around the United States, thanks to a post on the popular Facebook page Love What Matters.

“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,” Chimeno said.

“I believe Hope’s story, including all of the amazing Louisiana folks along the way, is a great reminder that it’s the people that matter in life, not the stuff.”

 

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