Obie Williams said he could hear children crying and tree branches crashing through windows when he spoke to his daughter on the phone last week as Hurricane Helen tore through her rural Georgia town.
Cobie Williams, 27, and her 1-month-old twin babies were sheltering in their trailer home in Thompson, Georgia, with her mother, Mary Jones, who was helping her care for the 1-month-olds. Williams’ father felt his daughter feared for her safety, and said she promised him she would heed his advice to take shelter in the bathroom until the storm passed.
The single mother was sitting in bed holding her two sons, Khizir and Khazmir, and talking on the phone with various family members while the storm raged outside.
Minutes later, she no longer answered their calls.
Jones, who was on the other side of the trailer, described hearing a loud crash when a tree fell on the ceiling of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Kobe, Kobe, answer me please,” Jones shouted desperately, but received no response.
Kobe and the twins are found dead.
This undated photo lineup shows, from left, Kobie Williams and her twin sons, Khazmir Williams and Khezir Williams, who were killed in their home in Thompson, Georgia, by a falling tree during Hurricane Helen on Monday, September 30, 2024.
Obie Lee Williams via AP
“I’ve seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I’ve yet to get out to meet them,” Obie Williams told The Associated Press days after the storm swept through eastern Georgia. “Now I will never be able to meet my grandchildren. It is devastating.”
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The children, born on August 20, are the youngest known victims of a storm that had killed at least 225 people in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina as of midday Saturday. The number of victims is expected to rise as rescuers reach isolated areas. Other young victims included a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy from about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south in Washington County, Georgia.
“She was so excited to be a mother to these beautiful twin boys,” said Chiquita Jones-Hampton, Coby Jones’ niece. “She was doing a good job and was so proud to be their mother.”
Jones-Hampton, who considered Kobe a sister, said the family is in shock and extremely sad. The funeral will be held on Friday.
In Obie Williams’ hometown of Augusta, 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of his daughter’s home in Thompson, power lines stretched along sidewalks, tree branches blocked roads, and utility poles appeared cracked and broken. Debris left him stranded in his neighborhood near the South Carolina border for a little more than a day after the storm passed.
He said one of his sons dodged falling trees and downed power lines to check on Kobe, and he couldn’t bear to tell his father what he had found.
Many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia. Some took refuge in Atlanta, while others traveled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together, he added.
He described his daughter as a lovable, sociable and strong woman. He said she was always smiling and loved to make people laugh.
Jones-Hampton said she loved to dance.
“That was my baby,” Williams said. “And everyone loved it.”
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
