Family welcomes baby 1 week after Hurricane Milton floods home

Watch out, world. Baby Arya Marie Rhea is here. A week after Hurricane Milton filled a family's Punta Gorda home with water, they are feeling blessed and welcoming a new baby into their lives.

Matthew Rhea is a father of three and was in the delivery room when Arya was born.

"I got to watch the doctors pull her out, and I don't know. Just, I always wanted to be a dad," said Rhea. "She's so tiny and so beautiful."

At 7 pounds and 14 ounces, she made her debut just a week after a major hurricane.

"With everything that's going on, I don't really think we've really had time to sink in for me or my wife," said Rhea.

Baby Arya was born around 6 p.m. Thursday. That time last week, Rhea was still dealing with the hurricane at home.

"I still had water up to my door. It still hadn't receded far enough away," said Rhea. "But what saved the baby's room and my daughter's room is the fact that our house is tilted towards what used to be our garage, which is now a master bedroom, where me and all my wife's stuff was. My master bedroom being flush with the ground wound up with about eight and a half inches of water in it."

They salvaged what they could throughout their home, but they knew they couldn't welcome their little bundle of joy into those doors.

"We're now taking up space in my brother-in-law's house, technically living in his living room. Two kids, two adults, two dogs, a rabbit, and a leopard gecko, and now I've got another baby we're about to bring down."

The brother and sister are waiting to meet their new best friend.

"Nova has been the most excited about the baby," said Rhea. "It's going to be her baby the way she sees it."

Through thick and thin, love conquers all.

"I couldn't have wished for a better wife, to be completely honest," said Rhea. "She keeps me sane in these moments."