The youngest Hurricane Helene casualties are thought to have been twin babies who perished beside their mother
Jones and her daughter watched the hurricane wreak destruction outside their house all night long. Around 5:15 a.m. Williams needed to sleep, so Jones fed Khyzier, but she was too afraid to sleep.
Eventually, Williams stayed awake and Jones went to sleep. Jones woke up to a “strange shushing” sound and a spooky silence less than an hour after falling asleep. When she went to look into it, she saw that her daughter’s bedroom had been broken through by a tree. “I let out a loud cry, ‘Kobe! Respond to me! Kindly respond to me! I was only able to see branches because it was so dark.
Williams and her boys were nowhere to be found by the rushing neighbours, but the rubble was too heavy. Everyone’s greatest suspicions were confirmed by the police when they came. “Are they still alive, I asked? Jones stated, “And (one officer) said, ‘It’s bad, don’t go in there.” And I simply broke down. I went crazy. “The tree collapsed on her head when she was holding the babies in her arms. Markeya Jones, Jones’s granddaughter, stated, “She was trying to protect them.”
Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Helene has been the most deadly hurricane to strike the United States mainland. As people in the southeast continue to clean up after Hurricane Milton, many are preparing for what might be another record-breaking storm as it approaches the Tampa Bay Area.
I have no words for the level of devastation left behind from Hurricane Helene. It aches my heart that so many people’s families and livelihoods were destroyed in a matter of moments.
