DFAT confirms support for new Aussie parents trapped in Florida hurricane

The Australian government has stepped in to help an Aussie couple who welcomed a new child in the middle of a deadly US hurricane.

NSW woman Dayna Sly gave birth to a baby she did not know she was carrying, in the middle of the massive deadly hurricane that hit Florida this week.

But she and fiancee Tony O’Keefe are now facing a bureaucratic nightmare to get their baby home to Australia.

The couple were in the US to visit Walt Disney World Resort when Ms Sly unexpectedly gave birth.

The baby girl is a US citizen, but the pair have applied for her to obtain Australian citizenship.

But the couple were advised by Australian government officials the citizenship process could take anywhere from two to seven months.

“We’re Australian citizens, we don’t have that sort of balance, or funds, to live here for almost a year,” they told Weekend Today.

“We’re Australian. We would love to go back to Australia.”

Travel insurance will cover the medical bills, the couple says, but their daughter has a US birth certificate.

On Sunday afternoon, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman confirmed with NewsWire the government was helping the couple.

“The Australian Government is providing support to two Australians in the United States,” the spokeswoman said.

“Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.”

Ms Sly said the baby girl, Audrey, was doing “really well”.

“I can’t believe how well she’s doing considering some of the stuff mum was doing, like going on rides and going on a plane at 41 weeks pregnant,” Ms Sly said.

“I had absolutely no idea and really no symptoms. It was very shocking about two days ago at 5am during the hurricane.”

NewsWire has contacted the couple for comment.

“I’ve wanted to go to Disney for such a long time and go to America,” Ms Sly told Channel 9.

“We’d saved up to (go) and then all of a sudden I’m in the middle of a hurricane at a hotel and I’ve given birth.”

Ms Sly explained she had issues when she got off the contraceptive pill, and doctors were “convinced” she had polycystic ovary syndrome.

Some slight bloating was explained as a normal symptom of coming off the pill following 12 years of use.

The new mother said she had no noticeable baby bump when she was pregnant, nor morning sickness.

“I did have what I thought were periods, but I don’t think they were obviously now,” she said.

“I didn’t even look pregnant, let alone 41 weeks pregnant.

Ms Sly was feeling some pain, she went into labour and that’s when she learnt she was pregnant, she explained. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Ms Sly gave birth before they reached the hospital.

“There were no signs, whatsoever,” Mr O’Keefe said.

Ms Sly is a primary and early childhood teacher.

“I’ve got to get home and we don’t know if they’re going to let us home or if we can even get home in the near future,” she said.

“They haven’t guaranteed her citizenship. They just asked us to pay $360 and they’ll ‘get back to us’ when they can if they grant her citizenship,” Mr O’Keefe said.

Hurricane Milton hit Florida on the southwest coast Wednesday night local time. At least 17 people have died as flooding inundated huge areas of the low-lying state. More than 2.2 million homes and business lost power, many of which are still without electricity days later.

The hurricane bore across Florida toward Orlando - where the Australian couple were - about 180kms northeast of the landfall point.

The couple were inside the Orlando hotel as a category 2 hurricane warning was in place, and 28 tornadoes were in the wider area. The baby was born about 15 hours before the hurricane hit the mainland.

The county which Orlando sits in dodged widespread power outages, with about 5 per cent of connections knocked out. Two-thirds of homes and businesses lost power where the hurricane made landfall, and 20 per cent of the counties neighbouring Orlando lost power.