Hurricane Victim's Husband Watched Tree Crush His Wife

Hurricane Victim's Husband Watched Tree Crush His Wife: "She Was the Ultra-Nice Badass"

Joey Williams of Florida says the hardest thing he ever swallowed was watching his wife of ten years loaded into a coroner's van. His wife, 57-year-old Jenn Biggs Williams, was crushed to death when a tree crashed through their roof during Hurricane Isaias over the weekend — the storm's first known fatality.

They Stepped Outside to Photograph the Sky, Then Came Back In

In an interview with NewsNation, Joey said the couple had stepped outside as the storm passed to photograph the sky and survey the damage. Moments after they returned inside, a large tree smashed through the roof and into their living room, pinning them both beneath it. "I was able to squeeze out. My wife didn't make it. The tree just fell on her," Joey said. "We like to think it was pretty instant, you know? Just gone."

He Begged Neighbors for Help in 100-Mph Winds

After crawling free, Joey ran to a neighbor for help as winds of up to 100 mph battered the property. "I'm like, 'My wife's trapped under the tree. Please, please.' And, I mean, there's nothing we can do," he said. They called emergency services, but responders said their ability to help was limited as the storm intensified. By the time crews arrived, cut apart the tree, and pulled Jenn from the wreckage, it was too late.

"I Just Want to Hear Her Voice"

"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 said his wife was beloved by everyone, even her co-workers. "Everybody loved her, right? Even her co-workers. She was the ultra-nice badass person." He added that he has called her phone five times since her death. "I just want to hear her voice… she was my world."

Alabama Also Lost Someone to the Same Storm

Jenn was the first known fatality linked to Hurricane Isaias. The Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency director confirmed a second storm-related death in Birmingham, Alabama, over the weekend. All told, Isaias has killed four people in Florida and Alabama, three of them in tree-related incidents. In another Florida case, a man died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running in his garage; four family members were hospitalized and are expected to survive.

The cruelest part of a hurricane is never the numbers. The reason Jenn's story has been picked up so widely is that it turns "fatality" back into a specific person: an HR worker her husband called an "ultra-nice badass," a couple who stepped out for photos and came back inside, and a rescue that didn't arrive in time. The storm has passed and the count stopped at four. For Joey, losing one person was losing his whole world.