NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� Tennessee state authorities said Wednesday they were investigating the company that owns a plastics factory where 11 workers were swept away by cataclysmic flooding unleashed by
As the nearby Nolichucky River swelled from rainfall, employees in the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin, a small community in rural Tennessee, kept working. Several asserted that they weren鈥檛 allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm鈥檚 impact. It wasn鈥檛 until water flooded into the parking lot and the power went out that the plant shut down and sent workers home.
Several never made it.
The raging waters swept 11 people away, and only five were rescued. Two of them are confirmed dead and are part of a toll across six states that has Four others from the factory are still missing since they were washed away Friday in Erwin, where dozens of people were also of a hospital.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Leslie Earhart said Wednesday that the agency is investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics at the direction of the local prosecutor.
District Attorney Steven R. Finney said in a statement that he asked the bureau to look into any potential criminal violations related to the 鈥渙ccurrences鈥� on Friday.
鈥淚mpact Plastics has not been contacted by the TBI yet but will fully cooperate with their investigation,鈥� said the company's spokesperson, Tony Treadway. He said the company is preparing an internal review, which it will release to the public.
Secondary to the Bureau of Investigation, the state's workplace safety office opened its own probe Wednesday into the circumstances behind the deaths. While announcing the investigation, the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration noted that companies have eight hours to report a workplace death, and it hadn't yet received a fatality report from Impact Plastics as of Wednesday evening.
Some workers managed to drive away from the plant, while others got caught on a clogged road where water rose high enough to sweep vehicles away. Videos show the brown floodwaters covering the nearby highway and lapping at the doors of Impact Plastics.
Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the factory, filmed himself and four others waiting for rescue as bobbing vehicles floated by. He later posted the videos on with the caption, 鈥淛ust wanna say im lucky to be alive.鈥� Videos of their helicopter rescue were posted on social media later Saturday.
In one video, Ingram looks down at the camera, a green Tennessee National Guard helicopter hovering above him, hoisting one of the other survivors. In another, a soldier rigs the next evacuee in a harness.
Impact Plastics said in a statement Monday that it 鈥渃ontinued to monitor weather conditions鈥� Friday and that managers dismissed employees 鈥渨hen water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power.鈥�
In interviews with local news outlets, two of the workers who made it out of the facility disputed those claims. One told that employees were made to wait until it was 鈥渢oo late.鈥� Another, Ingram made a similar statement to the .
鈥淭hey should鈥檝e evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,鈥� Ingram said. 鈥淲e asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn鈥檛 bad enough.鈥�
Worker Robert Jarvis told News 5 WCYB that the company should have let them leave earlier.
Jarvis said he tried to drive away in his car, but the water on the main road got too high, and only off-road vehicles were finding ways out of the flood zone.
鈥淭he water was coming up,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 guy in a 4x4 came, picked a bunch of us up and saved our lives, or we鈥檇 have been dead, too.鈥�
The 11 workers found temporary respite on the back of a truck driven by a passerby, but it soon tipped over after debris hit it, Ingram said.
Ingram said he survived by grabbing onto plastic pipes that were on the truck. He said he and four others floated for about half a mile (about 800 meters) before they found safety on a sturdy pile of debris.
Ingram鈥檚 father, Michael Graham, said Ingram was resting at home Wednesday after getting treated for cuts and lung problems and that his phone wasn鈥檛 working anymore. He said Ingram had called him from the truck, afraid for his life.
鈥淲e got a call, Jacob saying, 鈥業鈥檓 stuck at work, we鈥檙e on the back of a semitruck. We climbed as high as we can. Just tell everybody I love them if I don鈥檛 make it out again,鈥欌�� Graham said.
He welcomed the criminal investigation into the company, saying accountability could save lives in the future.
鈥淚t does seem ridiculous to me that this plant wasn鈥檛 evacuated,鈥� Graham said.
鈥淲e are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,鈥� Impact Plastics founder Gerald O鈥機onnor said in the statement Monday. 鈥淭hose who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.鈥�
The two confirmed dead at the Tennessee plastics factory are Mexican citizens, said Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, executive director at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She said many of the victims鈥� families have started online fundraisers to cover funeral costs and other expenses.
Bertha Mendoza was with her sister when the flooding started, but they got separated, according to a eulogy on her GoFundMe page authored by her daughter-in-law, who declined an interview request.
鈥淪he was loved dearly by her family, community, her church family, and co-workers,鈥� the eulogy read.
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Attanasio reported from New York. AP journalists Rhonda Shafner and Beatrice Dupuy contributed from New York.
Jonathan Mattise And Cedar Attanasio, The Associated Press
