BOUNTIFUL, Utah — It has been more than a month since wildfires devastated the island of Maui.
Nearly 100 people have died and more than 11,000 are displaced, with an estimated $4 billion in economic losses.
Diondra Jordan grew up in Utah, before moving to Lahaina in 2020 with her husband and children.
"I did not want to get emotional at all here, Lahaina is so good, It has been so cool living in Lahaina," said Jordan. "Everyone just kind of watches out for each other's families."
Emotions that were hard to hide for Jordan, especially describing August 8th. That was the day, Jordan says, her family had to pack up and leave their home at a moment's notice, as the wildfires broke out in Lahaina.
Jordan was 35 weeks pregnant at the time.
"By the time we were in the car, it was literally black outside, like it felt like a nighttime and there was orange flames drop like dropping in our driveway," said Jordan.
Jordan says her husband has been back to Maui once to survey the damage and get some of the belongings they left behind.
"Our home caught on fire eight minutes after we evacuated," said Jordan. "What caught on fire first was our trash bins and then it caught our fence on fire, we had about 15 to 20 boards that caught on fire and our air conditioning compressor and then the fire department got there and put it out."
A month after evacuating their home, Jordan was at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, giving birth to her fifth child.
"Coco Rose Jordan was born September 10th, 2023," said Jordan.
Jordan says Coco was born just after 1 a.m., at the same hospital she was born at three decades earlier.
"I woke up and I called my husband, I came here and they said we'll keep you," said Jordan.
She says they've had plenty of support, including from the staff at Lakeview Hospital.
"I thought I can't even imagine it because now they're here with nothing and they need everything, so that's the other thing we get to do sometimes is contact the community, ask for donations and things like that, so sometimes we can help the moms and families out," said Dawn Beers, Labor & Delivery Nurse, Lakeview Hospital.
Through tragedy, Jordan and her family are finding a ray of hope in their newest bundle of joy.
"She's just this like little healing balm for our family, so I feel like that gives us a lot of hope and just knowing like, yeah, everything will work out," said Jordan.
Jordan told FOX 13 News she heard it's probably going to be at least a year before they can move back into their home in Lahaina, just because of all the toxicity in the air and the on-going clean-up.
In the meantime, she is hoping that by the middle of November, they can move into a new place on the other side of the island.
