An expectant mother was forced to deliver her own baby because emergency services could not reach her as Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in Florida with devastating winds and heavy rain.

The woman called 911 for help in Miami when she realised she was going into labour – but a dispatcher told her that paramedics could not respond amid the violent Category Four storm.

She called again two hours later and said she was about to give birth, so the operator patched her through to an emergency crew in a local hospital who talked her through the delivery.

The doctor and paramedics instructed her through the process in a conference call and the baby came out healthy, a fire chief said.

The woman also delivered the placenta and cut off the umbilical cord from the girl during the birth in her home in the Little Haiti neighbourhood in Miami.

Both the mother and the infant, neither of whom were named, were later transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami when it was safer for crews to travel.

Assistant Fire Chief Eloy Garcia told The Miami Herald: “Baby came out good, healthy. The woman was doing good, too.”

City officials tweeted: “Docs talked her through birth at home - it's a girl!”

Mr Garcia said emergency crews were unable to attend to the woman amid the Category 4 storm – which ripped off roofs in Miami and left three dead across Florida during violent winds.

"We weren’t able to respond,” Mr Garcia said. “We talked things through.”

The mother delivered her baby alone just days after another woman fled from her home in an area stricken by powerful winds and travelled to Miami to give birth before the storm struck there.

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The mother, who was not identified, named her baby Nayiri Storm. Police later transported her from Baptist Hospital in Kendall, southwest of Miami, to a hotel for shelter.

Miami-Dade police tweeted a photo showing the woman and her baby in the police vehicle. It said: “Welcome to the world baby Nayiri Storm! Glad our officers were able to assist the family safely from the hospital to hotel #PerfectName #HurricaneIrma”.