The husband of a Florida woman killed by Hurricane Isaias has recalled the terrifying moment a falling tree tore through their roof and crushed his “ultra-nice badass” wife.
Jenn Biggs Williams, 57, worked in human resources and had been married to Joey for 10 years. The couple had just returned inside after checking the storm damage when a large tree crashed into their living room, trapping them beneath the debris.
“I was able to squeeze out. My wife didn’t make it. The tree just fell on her,” Joey told NewsNation.
He said the only comfort he could find was knowing Jenn’s death “was pretty instant.”
Joey escaped the house and pleaded with a neighbor for assistance as winds of up to 100 mph battered the property.
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“I’m like, ‘My wife’s trapped under the tree. Please, please.’ And, I mean, there’s nothing we can do,” he said.
Emergency crews eventually arrived, cut apart the tree and pulled Jenn from the wreckage, but she had already died.
“They let me say bye to her. I watched the love of my life for 10 years go into the back of a coroner’s van and head down that road. That’s the hardest thing I ever swallowed in my life,” Joey said. He added that Jenn was loved by everyone who knew her.
“Everybody loved her, right? Even her co-workers. She was the ultra-nice badass person,” he said.
“I just want to hear her voice. I’ve called her phone five times just to tell her … she was my world,” Joey said.
Jenn was the first known fatality from Hurricane Isaias. A second person died in Birmingham, Alabama, in connection with the storm over the weekend, the director of the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency confirmed.