Helene floods trapped people at work. Some vanished escaping their jobs, TN company says

Among the dozens of people who vanished during Hurricane Helene was a truck-load of employees trying to escape their workplace and the company is giving insights into how fast things went bad in East Tennessee.

Impact Plastics, located in Erwin, says five employees and a contractor went missing when rising water tipped over a truck on Friday, Sept. 27.

At least 11 people were seen clinging to the truck, but five were rescued from the swollen Nolichucky River, officials said.

The fate of the others has not been announced as of Oct. 1.

Helene brought up to 10 inches of rain to parts of East Tennessee, causing rivers, streams and lakes to overflow the morning of Sept. 27. However, the dangers weren’t immediately apparent, resulting in people going to work as if it were a typical day.

Water pooling in the parking lot of Impact Plastics was the first hint a break in the relentless rain was a sign of better things to come, company officials said.

“The company continued to monitor weather conditions,” Impact Plastics officials say. “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 says.

Employees who had been lingering outside were seen jumping aboard a truck in an attempt to escape the rising water, officials said. Others took off on foot, using an elevated CSX railroad track to stay above water, officials said.

Videos shared by one worker on social media shows the water went from waist deep to shoulder deep in a matter of minutes, and soon vehicles began floating away.

“Due to the quickly rising water the truck tipped over and five employees and a contractor aboard the truck went missing,” the company says.

“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.”

The five workers and contractor who vanished are among 10 listed as missing in Unicoi County, officials say.

Jacob Ingram says he was among the 11 Impact Plastics workers who were standing on the back of the semi-truck when it tipped over.

“I’m lucky to be alive and I hope all the other(s) I was with are okay,” he wrote in a Sept. 28 Facebook post.

Ingram says the truck flipped after being repeatedly slammed with debris in the swift-flowing water, Knoxnews.com reports. He and four workers floated about a half mile down the river until they came “to rest atop a pile of debris,” the outlet reported.

Video of that pile of debris shows it was an island of lumber, plastic pipes and stumps.

The five workers who remain missing include members of the area’s “tight-knit Mexican community,” WSMV reports. Some bodies have been found by searchers, but it could take days to confirm identities, the station reported.

Rumors have spread on social media that Impact Plastics managers told employees they’d be fired if they left as the waters were rising. The company denied that happened and said it provided translators to let Spanish-speaking staff know they should leave the building.

“At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility,” the company said in a statement.

A recovery center for employees is being organized to help with benefits and finding work, officials said.

Impact Plastics plans to reopen, but no date was announced.

This story was originally published October 1, 2024 at 8:29 AM with the headline "Helene floods trapped people at work. Some vanished escaping their jobs, TN company says."