Several employees inside a Tennessee plastics factory died after their bosses told them not to evacuate during Hurricane Helene, according to one worker.
Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee, confirmed there were deaths at its plant after Friday’s extreme weather, but did not disclose how many people died.
Two people are said to have died and five are still missing.
It has since been confirmed that employee Bertha Mendoza, 56, is one of those who died in the floods, according to a report. fundraising page. Alexa Peterson said NBC News that his father Johnny was among those who had died. She told the outlet she was seeking legal representation.
Jacob Ingram, a mold changer for the company, told Knoxville News Sentinel that when the flooding started, managers told employees to move their cars but wouldn’t let them leave.
Ingram said: “They should have evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings and when they saw the parking lot.” “When we moved our cars, we should have evacuated at that time.”
It comes as the death toll from the brutal hurricane that devastated the southeast last week surpassed 150 people.
Bertha Mendoza, 56, a mother of two, died after flooding from Hurricane Bertha hit Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee.
When the flooding began, managers told employees to move their cars but wouldn’t let them leave, according to one employee.
He continued: ‘We asked them if we should evacuate and they told us not yet, it wasn’t bad enough. And when it was bad enough, it was too late, unless you had a four-wheel drive vehicle.’
The outlet reported that a group of employees had clung to spools of flexible tubing in the back of a truck waiting for help.
The truck overturned and at least seven people were swept away by the waters.
Founder and CEO Gerald O’Connor said: “We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees.
“Those who are missing or deceased and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”
The company also claimed that at no time were employees told they would be fired if they left the facility.
Fernando Ruiz has been left looking for his mother Lidia Verdugo after he spoke to her while she was working while the rain fell.
Some of the deceased have been identified as Mónica Hernández, left, missing, and Fernando Ruiz’s mother Lidia Verdugo, right.
Francisco Javier Guerrero’s wife, Rosa María Andrade Reynoso, also remains missing
The company also claimed that at no time were employees told they would be fired if they left the facility.
According to Ruiz, he told her to leave, but she responded that plant managers weren’t telling her because the water levels continued to rise.
Guadalupe Hernandez said WSMV His sister Mónica Hernández had gone to work on Friday and received a call from her saying goodbye, in case she was not saved.
Nothing has been heard from her since.
Francisco Javier Guerrero’s wife, Rosa María Andrade Reynoso, had also disappeared in the waters.
he said WBIR: ‘She said goodbye to me and took care of the children. “We feel destroyed by what is happening, specifically because we have no answers if she is one of the people who were located.”
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) said in a statement that they had seen people struggling to get help from authorities.
They said: ‘TIRRC staff members deployed to the area witnessed community members struggling to access interpretation services from local and state government agencies, as well as requests for identification and documentation from families in the immigrant community by agencies that hindered their ability to identify their missing loved ones. .’
Flood damage from Hurricane Helene is seen here covering a hospital in Erwin on Saturday.
Images shared by Ingram on his social media show dark brown muddy water running through the company’s parking lot.
Large pickup trucks can be seen bobbing up and down in the fast-moving flood waters.
Among the most affected areas is the city of Asheville, North Carolina, which is located in a valley and where the death of about 50 people has been confirmed so far.
President Joe Biden was scheduled to survey the devastation in the region on Wednesday.
Rescuers continue their efforts to contact hundreds of people who are isolated by washed out roads and downed communication lines.
Images of the destruction caused by the hurricane reveal a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers, mud-covered roads and collapsed communication lines.
Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend, as water systems, communications and critical transportation routes were affected.
Property damage and loss of economic output will become more apparent as officials assess the destruction.
At a press conference Tuesday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said, “Communities were wiped off the map.”
