Live updates: After Hurricane Helene, desperation to find missing people is growing

Tennessee state authorities said Wednesday they are investigating the company behind a plastics factory where 11 workers were swept away by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

As rains swelled the nearby Nolichucky River, employees at the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin, a small community in rural Tennessee, continued to work. Several claimed they were not allowed to leave on time to avoid the storm’s effects. Only when water flooded the parking lot and the power went out was the plant closed and workers sent home.

Some never made it.

The raging waters swept away eleven people and only five could be saved. Two of them are presumed dead, part of a toll in six states that has exceeded 160. Four others at the factory are still missing since they were washed away on Friday in Erwin, where dozens of people were also rescued from the roof of a hospital.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Leslie Earhart said Wednesday that the agency is investigating allegations related to Impact Plastics at the direction of the local prosecutor.

District Attorney Steven R. Finney said in a statement that he had asked the office to investigate possible crimes related to Friday’s “incidents.”

“Impact Plastics has not yet been contacted by the TBI but will cooperate fully with the investigation,” said company spokesman Tony Treadway. He said the company is preparing an internal review that will be made available to the public.

Some workers managed to drive away from the factory, while others ended up on a clogged road where water rose so high that vehicles were washed away. Videos show the brown flood water covering the nearby highway and spilling onto the doors of Impact Plastics.

Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the factory, filmed himself and four others waiting for rescue as rocking vehicles drove past. He later posted the videos on Facebook with the caption: “I just want to say I’m lucky to be alive.” Videos of the helicopter rescue were posted on social media later on Saturday.

In one video, Ingram looks into the camera as a green Tennessee National Guard helicopter hovers above him, lifting one of the other survivors. In another case, a soldier puts a harness on the next evacuee.

Impact Plastics said in a statement Monday that it “continued to monitor weather conditions” on Friday and that managers laid off employees “as water began to cover the parking lot and adjacent access road and the facility lost power.”

In interviews with local news outlets, two of the workers who managed to leave the facility disputed these claims. One told News 5 WCYB that employees had to wait until it was “too late.” Another, Ingram, made a similar statement to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

“They should have evacuated when we got the flash flood warning and when they saw the parking lot,” Ingram said. “We asked them if we should evacuate and they told us we weren’t yet, it wasn’t bad enough.”

Worker Robert Jarvis told News 5 WCYB that the company should have let her go sooner.

Jarvis said he tried to drive away in his car, but the water on the main road became too high and only ATVs could find a way out of the flood zone.

“The water came up,” he said. “A guy in an SUV came and picked up a few of us and saved our lives, otherwise we would have been dead too.”

The 11 workers found temporary respite in the back of a truck driven by a passerby, but it soon overturned after debris hit it, Ingram said.

Ingram said he survived by holding on to the truck’s plastic pipes. He said he and four others swam about half a mile (about 800 meters) before finding safety on a sturdy pile of rubble.

“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” company founder Gerald O’Connor said in the statement Monday. “Those missing or deceased and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”

The two confirmed dead at the Tennessee plastics factory were Mexican citizens, said Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She said many victims’ families have started online fundraisers to cover funeral costs and other expenses.

Bertha Mendoza was with her sister when the flooding began, but they were separated, according to a eulogy on her GoFundMe page written by her daughter-in-law, who declined an interview request.

“She was deeply loved by her family, her community, her church family and her co-workers,” the eulogy said.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.