Jeff Byard, Team Rubicon's Vice President of Operations, discusses the local situation in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on “Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.”
Family of man killed in Hurricane Helen floods in tennessee The employer filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that the employer “chose greed over the safety of its employees.”
Johnny Peterson, 55, was one of the Impact Plastics employees who died on September 27th. helen flood It struck Irwin, a small rural town in eastern Tennessee.
Surviving workers said they were not told they could leave until the factory lost power and their cars were already submerged in water.
The 28-page lawsuit filed by Unicoi County Attorney Alex Little on behalf of Peterson's next of kin, Alexa Peterson, states that “despite the plant being located in the area of a federally designated flood program, There was no emergency action plan.”
11 Tennessee factory workers swept away in Helen floods, company responds with evacuation decision
Flooding outside Impact Plastics in Irwin, Tennessee, photographed on September 27, 2024. (Unicoi County Circuit Court, First Judicial District of Tennessee/FOX News)
Documents filed in court show Impact Plastics CEO Gerald O'Connor Jr. and other senior executives secured business documents from their private offices and then secretly accessed them through a back door. It is alleged that he left the building.
The complaint alleges that Peterson, a father of four, Alexa is the oldest, climbed onto the bed of a semitrailer in an attempt to escape.
Helen tragedy hurts Western North Carolina's tourism economy, AIRBNB owner says
According to the lawsuit, the employees were first instructed to move their vehicles to higher ground before being officially relieved of duty. (Unicoi County Circuit Court, First Judicial District of Tennessee/FOX News)
“At 1:17 p.m., he sent his daughter one last message. He managed to type, 'I love you all,' which was the last message Alexa Peterson received from her father,” the complaint states. has been done.
Peterson is one of five Impact Plastics employees killed in Helen's flooding. Knox News reported.
This photo shows how high the floodwaters reached outside Impact Plastics on September 27, 2024 in the wake of Hurricane Helen. (Unicoi County Circuit Court, First Judicial District of Tennessee/FOX News)
A statement from Ritson PLLC described Peterson as a loving father and called his death an “immeasurable loss to his family and community.”
“Impact Plastics is flood risk, The employee requested permission to resign, but the company took no action. We will hold them accountable,” the statement said.
Click here to read more on FOX Business
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, a Fox Business attorney said “we have no additional information at this time,” but quoted O'Connor in a statement previously shared with Fox News Digital, saying, “We are a great We are devastated by the tragic loss of our valued employee.”
