A Florida woman lost her life when a falling tree tore through her home during Hurricane Isaias, while her injured husband lay trapped beside her and was forced to use his Apple Watch to summon help.
Jenn Biggs Williams, 57, died Saturday after the tree collapsed onto the Pensacola house she shared with Joey, her husband of 10 years, crushing the bedroom where they were lying together.
Joey suffered severe injuries to both legs and could not reach his phone. After spending roughly 20 to 30 minutes beneath the debris, he managed to crawl free and contact his son through his Apple Watch as the powerful hurricane continued to batter the region, according to NBC6.
Hurricane Isaias caused widespread destruction across the southeastern United States after making landfall Friday night. At least four people were killed and several others were injured.
Even after the storm knocked out electricity to the family’s home, Joey managed to send a message to his son during the chaos.
When his son asked how serious the damage was, Joey replied with the devastating words: “My wife is gone.”
The grieving stepson said he spent the next morning clearing fallen trees from the area while trying to process the sudden loss.
“I’ve been dropping trees all morning, crying and carrying on,” he said. “And me, I’m just angry.”
Jenn Biggs Williams, 57, died after a tree crashed through her Pensacola, Florida, home during Hurricane Isaias. She is pictured with her daughter, Brittnee.
The falling tree struck Williams as she lay beside her husband, Joey, during Hurricane Isaias, which devastated parts of the southeastern United States after arriving Friday night.
Joey remembered Williams as an “ultra-nice badass person.” The victim is pictured with her daughter and son-in-law.
The storm reached Florida’s Panhandle near Destin at approximately 8:30 p.m. as a Category 2 hurricane, bringing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
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About half an hour later, wind speeds had eased to 85 mph, but Isaias continued to inflict serious damage along the Gulf Coast.
Dramatic video captured the storm’s impact in Pensacola, where fierce winds tore the roof from the Rest and Relax Inn and sent it flying with scattered debris as trees whipped violently in the background.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 418,000 homes and businesses in Florida and Alabama were without electricity as Hurricane Isaias moved through the region.
Florida accounted for the largest share of the outages, with approximately 300,000 customers facing a night without power.
Emergency responders found Williams unconscious and without a pulse when they reached the damaged home, NBC6 reported.
Speaking later with NewsNation, Joey described the moment the tree struck, saying his wife’s death was “pretty instant.”
Hurricane Isaias killed four people and injured others, while more than 418,000 homes and businesses across Florida and Alabama lost power.
Williams’s stepson told NBC 6 that Joey was in bed when the tree crushed his wife, but managed to call for assistance using his Apple Watch.
The husband said emergency crews gave him the opportunity to say one final goodbye before taking her body away.
‘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,’ he said.
Joey described Williams, who worked in human resources, as someone everybody loved, adding that she was an ‘ultra-nice badass person.’
‘I just want to hear her voice. I’ve called her phone five times just to tell her … she was my world,’ the devastated husband said.
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