A Georgia woman died alongside her twin newborn boys while hunkering down for their safety as Hurricane Helene ripped through their rural town.
Obie WIlliams discovered his daughter, Kobe Williams, 27, and her sons, Khyzier and Khazmir, after a tree fell on top of their trailer in Thompson, 120 miles east of Atlanta, causing her to fall on top of the children.
Williams said he received a call from his daughter last week as Helene battered the area. She heeded his advice and sheltered in the bathroom with her month-old babies until the storm passed. When she stopped answering her family’s phone calls, Williams dodged power lines and downed trees to check on her and the boys.
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Kobe Williams and her twin sons, Khazmir and Khyzier, were killed in their home in Thomson, Ga., by a falling tree during Hurricane Helene Sept. 30. (Obie Lee Williams via AP)
“I’d seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I hadn’t made it out there yet to meet them,” Williams told The Associated Press, days after the storm ravaged eastern Georgia. “Now I’ll never get to meet my grandsons. It’s devastating.”
Williams’ grandsons were born Aug. 20 and are the youngest known victims of Helene, which has claimed the lives of at least 230 people throughout the Southeast.
The death toll is expected to rise as search and rescue continues to comb through new areas.
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Members of the Civil Air Patrol load water for Hurricane Helene relief into a pickup truck at a water station in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Williams described his daughter as a lovable, outgoing and strong young woman who always had a smile on her face and loved to make people laugh. She was studying to be a nursing assistant but had taken time off from school to give birth to her sons.
“That was my baby,” he said. “And everybody loved her.”
Williams, who lives in Augusta, said many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia. Some have sought refuge in Atlanta, and others have traveled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together.
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Williams said they are waiting for the bodies to be released by the county coroner and for roads to be cleared before arranging a funeral.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.