Obie Lee Williams never had the opportunity to meet his newborn twin grandsons. Tragically, he now faces the heart-wrenching task of burying the young boys and his daughter, Kobe Williams, who died when a tree fell on their Thomson, Georgia home as Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast.
On Thursday, Governor Brian Kemp confirmed that at least 33 people had died in Georgia since the storm made landfall on September 26. The death toll across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas has reached 200, according to The Associated Press.
Williams’ grandsons, Khyzier and Khazmir, are believed to be the youngest victims of Hurricane Helene. Kobe Williams, who had devoted much of her life to caring for her younger siblings, nieces, and nephews, became a mother herself on August 20 when she welcomed the twins.
“Kobe was a new parent, but she was a good parent,” Obie Williams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday. He shared that he spoke with his daughter daily, including in the moments before the storm threatened Georgia. Kobe, one of 15 siblings, had decided to stay home with her sons. “She was going to ride it out at the house,” Williams said.
In her last conversation, Kobe also spoke with her younger sister, telling her, “Take care of my babies.” It was the final time she communicated with her family.
When the family was unable to reach her afterward, one of Kobe’s brothers went to her home. There, he discovered the tragic scene: Kobe and her sons had not survived. The family believes that Kobe was trying to protect her babies when the tree crashed through their roof.
“From my understanding, she was standing over them,” Obie Williams said. “She fell on top of them and then smothered them.”
Alongside Kobe and her newborn sons, two other children in Georgia also lost their lives during the storm. About 50 miles away in Sandersville, seven-year-old Harmony Taylor and her four-year-old brother, Derrick, died when a tree fell on their home.
The Williams family is awaiting autopsy results for Kobe and her sons. Funeral plans are still being arranged. Though Obie Williams and his other children managed to escape the storm unharmed, the loss of his daughter and her young sons remains difficult to comprehend.
“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 shared with The Associated Press. “Now I’ll never get to meet my grandsons. It’s devastating.”
A GoFundMe page has been created to help the family with funeral expenses.