Corporate greed on display in Hurricane Helene; Capitalism at its worst

Survivors blasted a Tennessee plastics company for keeping workers on the job on Friday even as nearby flood waters rose, causing 11 people to be swept away when the plant was finally evacuated. At least two people were killed and seven remain missing, local news station WVLT 8 reported. The others clung to floating plastic pipes and were dumped half a mile away on a pile of debris, a survivor told the Knoxville News Sentinel. Managers at Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tenn., let employees move their cars as Hurricane Helene sent water from the nearby Nolichucky River surging into the company’s parking lot, but nobody was allowed to leave until the water was nearly waist high.

  Daily Beast

Unconscionable. Sue those bastards to Hell.

Relatives of the missing and deceased workers and factory employees who survived have alleged they were made to show up to work despite the hurricane moving through the area. Some have said they were denied the chance to leave before the floodwaters from heavy rainfall inundated the plastics factory's parking lot and cut off their escape routes.

Robbie Jarvis, one of the surviving employees, told NBC News his requests to leave were denied and he was told instead to move his car, which he did twice.

He said despite the weather "we were told to be at work" and about 30 people were working Friday morning when the flooding trapped them. He described a scene of chaos and panic as workers tried to traverse the deadly waters.

"I just wish we never went to work that day. Because it was unnecessary, all these lives we lost because of that. It was wrong," Jarvis said.

  NBC

“I didn’t hear anyone say ‘leave’ or nothing like that. I actually asked one of the higher ups,” [employee Jacob] Ingram said. “They told me ‘no, not yet.’ They have 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 he was swept away by floodwaters Friday, having to clamber on top of a semi-truck to get to higher ground. That’s when he was rescued by a helicopter.

[...]

The company released a statement following the tragedy. Its representatives said the company monitored weather conditions, dismissing employees when the facility lost power and water began to cover the parking lot.

Ingram said that isn’t what happened.

“No. The plant lost power, and we were still not to go home or leave,” he told WVLT News. “We were still there 15 to 20 minutes after the plant lost power.”

The company said some employees left immediately, but others stayed behind for unknown reasons.

  

JFC. I hope those employees own that company when all the lawsuits are done.

Ron Kell, the owner of nearby R&R Manufacturing, went to Impact Plastics to help the rescue effort. This, after he sent his own employees home.

“I was yelling at them to come; she was talking to her boss,” Kell said, remembering the day.

Impact Plastics has since said it’s organizing a recovery center for employees. One thing the company hasn’t done, Ingram said, is reach out.

“I haven’t heard a thing,” he said. “They haven’t reached out to make sure we are okay, nothing.”

And maybe the asshole owner/CEO (Gerald O'Connor, founder) should have some time behind bars to think about what they did.

Only a parking lot and two roads – South Industrial Drive and James H. Quillen Parkway – separate Impact Plastics from the river.

[...]

A group of employees from Erwin’s Impact Plastics clung to spools of flexible yellow plastic pipes on the back of a semitruck for hours Sept. 27 waiting for help as the swollen Nolichucky River raged around them.

But the truck tipped over and at least seven people were swept away by the floodwaters.

[...]

As the waters rose outside, managers wouldn’t let employees leave, he said. Instead, managers told people to move their cars away from the rising water. Ingram moved his two separate times because the water wouldn’t stop rising.

[...]

The company, via a statement, confirmed six employees and a contractor are missing but denied allegations that management forced anyone to continue working as waters rose outside. Further, the statement said, while most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises. It reiterated management and assistants were the last to exit the building.

[...]

[E]mployees were fighting their way through waist-deep water in the parking lot when a semitruck driver from PolyPipe USA, which operates next door, called them over and helped them get onto the back of his open-bed truck, packed full of the large yellow flexible gas pipes.

[...]

In their panic, the group called 911 and were told rescuers would be there in 15-20 minutes.

But help was a long way away.

“We called the police station God knows how many times,” Ingram said. “For two or three hours we were on the back of the trailer … it was because the hospital was about to collapse, and I understand that, but they shouldn’t have told us someone was on the way (when they weren’t).”

[...]

Suddenly, a piece of debris hit the truck. The jolt knocked a woman into the rapids, Ingram said.

Soon after, a second piece of debris smashed into the truck and another woman fell into the water and was swept away, he said.

The truck was hit again, but this time the piece of debris was much bigger, the impact much harder, and the the truck flipped. Ingram crammed his hands under a plastic band around the yellow pipes.

It saved his life.

“I wedged my hands into it, and it took everything I had to hang on,” he said. “I seen them (the pipes) floating down river, so that’s what gave us the idea. We knew it was floating.”

Roughly half a mile from the factory, Ingram and four other employees came to rest atop a pile of debris.

[...]

After an hour or so passed, a rescue helicopter from the Tennessee National Guard plucked them from danger.

[...]

Ingram told Knox News that [Rosa Maria Andrade] Reynoso was one of the employees who climbed onto the flatbed with him.

Reynoso was in touch with her husband throughout the morning and sent videos showing water rising up to her ankles, Guerro said. In one of her last messages, she told him the water had gotten so high she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get out.

She told him to take care of the kids, he said.

He tried to get to his wife, but by the time he made near the factory, roads were closed. He tried unsuccessfully to get to the factory by several routes. At the time, there were helicopters circulating in Erwin to rescue those trapped atop Unicoi County Hospital. Every time he saw a helicopter, he hoped she would be on it.

“She never came, she never came,” he said.

  Knox News