Several employees at a plastics factory in Tennessee were swept away by severe flooding from Hurricane Helen, and survivors blamed company management for not letting workers home before water reached dangerous levels.
On Friday, Robert Jarvis, who worked at the Impact Plastics plant in Irwin, told News 5 WCYB he asked to leave after the facility lost power and “the parking lot flooded.”
“I said, 'Can I leave?' And the woman said, 'No, not until I talk to Jerry,'” he said.
By the time management fired employees, “it was too late,” Jarvis said.
“We were on a one-way street, a one-way street…We were told we could leave, but the one-way street was blocked,” he explained, adding that good Samaritans came in a truck and rescued him. Before doing so, he explained how his car started to lift off. .
“He saved a lot of lives by coming to pick me up, otherwise we would have died too,” Jarvis said of the man.
Posted by another employee, Jacob Ingram. some videos While evacuating with others on top of a semi-truck driven by an employee of the nearby PolyPipeUSA company, he posted on Facebook about how fast the dangerous water was flowing.
Debris continued to hit the truck, knocking the two women into the rushing water and then causing the entire vehicle to overturn, Ingram said. said Knoxville News Sentinel.
Clinging to a plastic band wrapped around a large pipe saved his life.
“I pushed my hand into it and it took all I had to hold on,” he said. “I saw them [the pipes] That's what gave us the idea. We knew it was floating. ”
Ingram and four other employees drifted about a half-mile before coming to rest on a pile of rubble and were eventually rescued by a Tennessee National Guard helicopter.
While several employees were rescued, six fellow Impact Plastics employees were swept away by the water.
“We all sat down with the directors and said, 'Look, we don't need to be here,'” said Zinnia Adkins, another survivor. said WJHL. “Our phone alerts were telling us we needed to flee the area, and they didn't say anything about it. And the supervisors didn't tell us we could go. did.”
She told the news agency that of the six people who went missing at the factory, three died and three were still missing.
Rosa Reynoso is one of the workers who still hasn't been found after five days.
“I worked with Rosa every day,” Adkins said. “She was so kind and there is no need for her to go missing and there is no need for her family to go through this. [Impact Plastics] They would just say things like, “Go away'' or “You don't have to work today.'' ”
“They knew they had a chance, we work next to a river. Nothing like this would ever happen. No family would go through what they're going through. ” she added through tears.
One of the confirmed fatalities, 56-year-old Berta Mendoza, was one of the women who fell from the truck. Her sister was struggling to survive when she was separated and her body was found two days later, her family said. gofundme Her funeral expenses page.
“She was dearly loved by her family, community, church family and colleagues,” her relatives said. “I never imagined it would have an impact,” he added. ”
Mendoza and at least one other victim were Mexican, Lisa Sherman Nicolaus of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. said NBC15 News.
Rosa Maria Andrade Reynoso, Lydia Verdugo Gastelum, and Monica Hernandez Colon are yet to be decided. Foundaccording to The Daily Beast.
The company denies it took too long to send employees home, and a senior Impact Plastics manager told WJHL, “Management management ensured that employees returned to their homes in time to evacuate the industrial park.'' “I was fired from the team,” he said.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of a great employee,” company founder Gerald O'Connor said in a statement Monday obtained by NBC. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the missing and deceased and their families.”
Meanwhile, some survivors say Impact Plastics is lying.
“Impact Plastics hasn't tried to contact me in any way, so I don't think they have any genuine sympathy,” Adkins said.
“That was a lie,” Jarvis told WCYB of the company's statement.
When asked what he would say to his manager, he said, “I wonder why they made us work that day… We shouldn't have worked… None of us should have been there.” He answered:
“My heart breaks for the guys we lost. They were all good people,” he continued, saying they were all like “family.”
“It broke my heart to see them die…I think it's all about greed,” Jarvis added.
