By Daniella Segura
The Charlotte Observer
LOMPOC, Calif. — A woman had a baby in a riverbed with the help of the father as floodwaters rushed in, California police said.
The Lompoc Fire Department was checking on black smoke they had seen earlier in the day near the Santa Ynez River in Lompoc when they found the woman in active labor shortly before noon on Monday, according to a press release posted to the Lompoc Police Department’s Facebook page.
The child’s father helped the woman deliver the baby prematurely, police said.
The fire department contacted the family while coming up with a “plan to rescue the trio, as they were surrounded by water flowing through the riverbed,” police said.
After the fire department rescued the family of three from the riverbed, the child and mother were taken to a hospital, according to police. Both are in stable condition.
Police said they are investigating the situation as a potential child endangerment case and that they have notified Child Welfare Services.
The rescue came during warnings of “atmospheric rivers” in California as a series of intense storms slams the state, The Associated Press reported. The storms have killed at least 14 people, flooded streets, downed trees, forced evacuations and cut power to tens of thousands of people.
Lompoc is about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
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