Workers at a Tennessee plastic factory said they were forced to stay on the job, even as Hurricane Helene bore down and floodwaters rose, causing 11 people to be swept away before the plant was finally evacuated.
Two women died when the Nolichucky River swamped Impact Plastics on Friday, an immigrants rights group working with the families of some employees told Knox News. Another three people remained missing as of Wednesday afternoon.
The surviving factory workers said they were made to show up to the plant in Erwin despite the series of warnings issued ahead of Helene’s arrival.
Impact employee Jacob Ingram said that while managers allowed them to move their cars away from the rising water, they were not allowed to leave before the floodwaters submerged the plastics factory’s parking lot and cut off their escape routes.
“They should’ve evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,” Ingram told Knox News.
“When we moved our cars we should’ve evacuated then … we asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn’t bad enough,” he continued. “And by the time it was bad enough, it was too late unless you had a four-wheel-drive.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday confirmed it was investigating what happened at the plant, at the request of District Attorney Steve Finney.
Finney in a statement said he “specifically” asked investigators to “review the occurrences of Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, to identify any potential criminal violations.”
Impact Plastic said it has not yet been notified of the probe. It also denied wrongdoing, adding that managers did not refuse workers’ requests to leave.