Unicoi County deputies see outpouring of support after homes lost to flooding

UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Unicoi County’s Jonathan Williams and Christopher Hampton both lost their homes during the onslaught of flooding brought by Hurricane Helene. Since then, they’ve seen an outpouring of support from the community and fellow law enforcement.

Groups that offered support to the deputies include the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association, the Jericho Shriners, local churches and even students from Vonore Middle School in Monroe County.

The middle schoolers held a “penny war”, raising nearly $4,000 for Williams and Hampton.

“I had never dreamed in a million years all the outreach and all the outpouring,” Williams said. “You know, everyone–my department, my sheriff and all the other outpouring that I’ve got. It catches you, you know, because you don’t really know what you mean to some people until moments like this happen.”

Even a full-circle moment happened for Williams following the flooding. A few months ago, he and another deputy responded to a call where a man was going into cardiac arrest.

“We went to work on this man and worked on him quite some time. And he had no pulse, no heart rate, no nothing. He was gone when we got there.”

Miraculously, the man lived.

“Two to three weeks later, that man got to go home and he is actually out volunteering right now in South Georgia,” Williams said.

Fast forward to after the flood, that man’s family checked on Williams. The sister ended up starting a GoFundMe for him.

Williams didn’t even know.

“A few days later, my dad called me. He said, ‘hey, you know, there’s a GoFundMe set up in your name.”

“God put me there to help them in their time. When he needed breath when he needed life. We were able to give him life and they don’t realize now, looking at it as I’m saying it, they don’t realize that their family is giving us life now.”

Williams said he wasn’t even able to reach his house on the day of the flooding, but on the next day, he hiked there to check on his elderly neighbor.

“As soon as I get back there, I see my house, my neighbor’s house to the left of us had been taken off the foundation. It was sitting in the middle of the road beside my house. And I just looked for a second, and then I just kept walking because I knew where he was. So I can go see him and make contact with him.”

His neighbor was rescued and staying at a house nearby. Williams eventually got back to his own home and saw the damage.

“The bottom was nothing but mud, sticks. And there was logs from the logging company sticking through the bottom of my house. And a sinkhole started to develop a couple of days after that. I had to go back out with FEMA, an inspector from FEMA two or three days ago, and the sinkhole had gotten bigger and what technically is left was left of my house–about a quarter of it was in the sinkhole.”

Williams said he was able to save most of his and his daughter’s clothes, but the property has been deemed unstable and unfit to live in.

The Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department has given Williams paid time off, until he returns next week. He still has been volunteering to help others despite his own loss.

He endlessly thanked the sheriff’s department and everyone else for how much they’ve checked on him.

“Just a simple, ‘hey, you doing okay today,’ ” Williams said. “Some days, I’m not. You know, that’s a lot. My little girl looked at me the other night and said, ‘I want to go home and get in my bed.’ You don’t know how to tell a four-year-old, you know, we don’t have ‘home’. We don’t have your bed anymore. So it takes a lot out of you, emotionally, mentally.”

Williams said Hampton is being strong for his own family at this time as well.

“It’s just one of those things that with him, I see it in him, too. He’s got the determination. He’s got the strength. He didn’t need anything from anybody. He didn’t want anything from anybody. He just wanted to rebuild for his family as fast as he could. And then this outpouring comes in. But you can tell it’s rough.”

Williams and Hampton have been there for each other. They also recently received donations from Calvary Baptist Church and talked to each other there.

“We got our bags and we hugged each other, and that wasn’t just a hug like ‘alright, buddy I’ll see you later,’ that was a hug of you know, I’m in this with you. I want to do anything that I can for you and everything that I can from you. Even in my time of despair, even in my time of loss, I want to be there for him.”

Williams said everyone’s generosity and kindness helped him have a new outlook on being a human being.

“I want to be the best possible version of myself, not only for my job, but for everyone around me.”

He recalled recently listening to a sermon by Pastor Steven Furtick that has helped him.

“Next Best Thing was the sermon. And that just goes into ‘I lost my home, but I’ve met people that I never thought that I would meet. I have friends now that I never knew.'”

“My children have three times as many clothes as they had. I have three times as many clothes. And my children had toys that had played with forever that they didn’t want to get rid of. My children all have new toys now. That they’re able to go pick out because of donations. It’s the next best thing.”

Williams said although he and his daughters may not have their home or their old fishing and swimming hole, everyone’s kindness has kept them afloat.

“When somebody calls me and says, ‘hey, what do you need’ because of God. That’s it. That’s all. Nobody will convince me any different. As to not even two weeks ago, me and my children have a need for nothing because we have the next best thing.”

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