Factory Worker Killed in Hurricane Helene Flooding Found

Erwin, TN (WorkersCompensation.com) – The sixth worker missing after a plastics plant was flooded in eastern Tennessee in September has been found.

Authorities are still investigating what happened at the factory as the flood waters from Hurricane Helene rose.

The remains of Rosa Andrade, 29, were recovered last week. She is the last employee who officials believed was washed away from the Impact Plastics Plant in Erwin, Tenn., during the flooding that hit the southeast in September.

Andrade’s husband, Francisco Javier Guerrero told WBIR he last heard from his wife while she was still at work.

“She said goodbye to me, and to take care of the kids,” he said.

On Sept. 27, remnants of Hurricane Helene swept up the country from Florida dumping up to 30 inches of rain on the Appalachian Mountains. The resulting floods decimated eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, killing more than 200 people across the southeast. In North Carolina alone, officials attributed more than 100 deaths to the storm and resulting flooding, and projected the costs for recovery and damages to be around $53 billion.

Officials in Tennessee initially said 11 workers at the factory had been swept away in the flood waters, but later said five had been found alive. Also killed in the flood were Monica Hernandez, Johnny Peterson, Lidia Verdugo-Gastelum, Sibrina Barnett and Bertha Mendoza.

“These people were just reporting to work that morning,” Andrew Harris, a captain with Unicoi County Search and Rescue, told The New York Times. “We’re trying to provide closure for the families, and obviously grieving with them.”

Amid allegations that workers were told they couldn’t leave, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and the Tennessee occupational safety board are looking into what happened at the plastics plant.

Survivors and family members of the victims said the workers reported to the factory just like any other day on Sept. 27. But some workers said that as the rain started, and the flood waters began to rise, they were told not to leave the plant. Employees said their concerns about their safety were not acknowledged. Organizers with the immigrants’ rights group Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition said the workers were told the factory had not been told to evacuate. Additionally, Spanish speaking immigrants tried to communicate with English speakers during the chaotic time, up to and including later evacuation efforts.

But managers at the plant have denied the allegations, saying the workers were never told that they were required to stay.

Company officials said in a statement at the time that as water began to pool in the parking lot, the company took action.

“The company continued to monitor weather conditions,” Impact Plastics officials said in a statement. “When water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power, employees were dismissed by management to return to their homes in time for them to escape the industrial park. ... While most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises for unknown reasons.”

The flooding then escalated, resulting in “high waters at the front door and coming into the building,” the company said.

The company said 11 employees who had been outside of the plant were seen jumping on a truck to get away from the rising flood water. Others took off on foot, using an elevated CSX railroad track to stay above water, officials said.

“Due to the quickly rising water, the truck tipped over and five employees and a contractor aboard the truck went missing,” the company said. “Five others who were also on the truck when it tipped over made it to safety and were later evacuated. Those who departed by the railroad tracks were offered assistance from employees of an adjacent company, making it to safety.”

One of the surviving employees, Jacob Ingram, said in September that he said he and his coworkers only had 15 minutes to leave before the floodwaters began to rise. 

“I didn’t hear anyone say ‘leave’ or nothing like that. I actually asked one of the higher ups,” Ingram told WVLT. “They told me ‘No, not yet.’ They had to ask someone before we was able to leave, even though it was already above the doors and the cars and everything else.”

Ingram said employees tried to get to higher ground as the water rose. He and others held on to a semi-truck for hours before using rolls of plastic gas piping as life preservers, he said.

But, he said, the truck flipped after being hit with debris several times, and he and four other workers floated with the water until they stopped atop an island of debris.

The Incident continues to be under investigation. 

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