Workers at a plastics factory in rural Tennessee continued to work as Hurricane Helen's rains intensified.
The factory was shut down for the first time after water flooded the parking lot and the power went out, allowing employees to go home.
Some didn't make it.
Eleven people were swept away by the intense floods, and only five were rescued.
Two of those deaths were confirmed, part of a total of more than 150 deaths across the affected states on Tuesday.
The remaining four people remain missing after being swept away Friday in the small town of Irwin, Tennessee, where dozens of people were rescued from the roof of a hospital.
Some workers managed to flee the factory by car, but others were trapped in congested roads filled with so much water that vehicles were swept away.
Video shows brown floodwaters from the adjacent Nolichucky River covering a nearby highway and lapping at Impact Plastics' doors.
Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at a plastics factory, filmed himself and four others waiting to be rescued as a levitating vehicle passed by.
He later posted a video facebook The caption reads: “I just want to say I'm lucky to be alive.”
Video of the helicopter rescue was posted on social media late Saturday.
In one video, Ingram is seen looking down at the camera as a green Tennessee National Guard helicopter hovers above him and lifts one of the other survivors.
In another photo, soldiers are seen putting harnesses on the next group of evacuees.
Impact Plastics said in a statement Monday that it “continued to monitor weather conditions” on Friday and that managers were terminating employees “as water began to cover the parking lot and adjacent side streets and the plant lost power.” said.
In interviews with local news outlets, two of the workers who escaped from the facility disputed these claims.
One person told News 5 WCYB that employees were made to wait until “it was too late.” Another person, Mr. Ingram, made similar remarks to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“They should have evacuated when the flash flood warning went out and when they saw the parking lot,” Ingram said.
“We asked them if they should evacuate, and they said they shouldn't evacuate yet, it's not enough yet.”
Worker Robert Jarvis told News 5 WCYB the company should have let them leave sooner.
Mr Jarvis said he tried to flee by car, but water levels on the main road had risen so high that off-road vehicles were the only way out of the flooded area.
“The water is coming up,” he said. “A guy in a four-wheel drive came and picked up a bunch of us and saved our lives. Otherwise we would have died too.”
Ingram said the 11 workers briefly took a break in the back of a truck driven by a passerby, but the truck overturned soon after being hit by debris.
Ingram said he survived by holding on to a plastic pipe that was inside the truck. He said he and four others drifted about a half-mile and found safety on a solid pile of rubble.
Impact Plastic said Tuesday it had no update.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of a great employee,” company founder Gerald O'Connor said in a statement Monday.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the missing and deceased and their families.”
The death toll from Hurricane Helen rose Tuesday as searches continued in multiple states.
Survivors were searching for shelter and struggling to find water, electricity and food. Other parts of the region are also bracing for barriers to voting.
Lisa Sherman Nicolaus, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said the two people found dead at the Tennessee plastics plant were Mexican nationals.
She said many of the victims' families have started online fundraisers to help cover funeral costs and other expenses.
Bertha Mendoza, who was with her sister when the flooding began, said a memorial on her GoFundMe page was written by her daughter-in-law, who declined a request for an interview.
“She was dearly loved by her family, community, church family and co-workers,” the obituary said.
