Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    AN hour before Typhoon Nida landed in Shenzhen’s Dapeng area yesterday morning, a baby boy was born on the staircase of a residential building in Futian District. Doctors braved the relentless gusts and rain to rush to the scene and cut the umbilical cord before taking them to hospital.

    The baby’s mother, surnamed Zhang, said she felt labor pains at around 1 a.m. While she was walking down the stairs of her home on Bading Street in Futian at around 2 a.m., she gave birth. The ambulance arrived at the scene 10 minutes later and found both the baby and the mother were in good condition.

    Wu Huijun, a doctor with the nearby Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, cut the baby’s umbilical cord and helped the mother deliver the placenta.

    At that time, the area was being affected by heavy rain and strong wind. Typhoon Nida had landed in the Dapeng area at around 3:30 a.m., with the force of the wind in some areas reaching 14.

    Dr. Wu, an emergency doctor, Dr. Chen Junhua, the driver of the ambulance, and Xu Fei, a nurse at the Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, were soaked with rain after going back and forth to bring medical equipment and medication from the ambulance, and then moving the mother and the baby to the ambulance.

    “The mother had given birth previously, so the labor duration this time was very short,” said Wu. “We’re so happy that the mother and the son are safe, and we feel lucky for them, although we all got soaked.”

    To prepare for possible damage caused by Typhoon Nida, Shenzhen Emergency Center put 101 ambulances and 932 emergency technicians on standby. From 10 p.m. Monday to 8 a.m. yesterday, five ambulances were dispatched to save five patients across the city, the city’s health commission.