Hospitals come together to save 3 infants during Hurricane Laura
NEW ORLEANS (WABC) -- Two hospitals worked together during the height of Hurricane Laura to help save the lives of three infants.
The storm inflicted significant damage to a hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
In a race against time, three newborns in need of special medical attention were rushed to the Children's Hospital of New Orleans.
RELATED | Death toll from Hurricane Laura climbs to 16
The move was significant because it was a role reversal of sorts. Back in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, hospitalized babies had to be transferred from New Orleans to Lake Charles.
"I'm not going to lie, I felt very rewarded that I was able to pay it back," Nurse Sandy Amato said. "Because they helped us, and we were to happy to help them. And I felt so good about it."
The Lake Charles medical facility lost significant water pressure and its air conditioning system during the storm.
The atmosphere inside the building was said to be stifling.
President Donald Trump toured the damage from Laura in Louisiana and Texas on Saturday. He and Gov. John Bel Edwards made their way down a street blocked by trees and where houses were battered by the storm, which the governor said was the most powerful hurricane to strike the state. That means it surpassed even Katrina, which was a Category 3 storm when it hit 15 years ago on Saturday, to the day.
Although the storm was not as bad as once feared, authorities were still warning it could leave people with out running water or power for weeks in the stifling late summer heat. It made roads impassable, tore roofs and walls off buildings and strew debris about.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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