Tennessee authorities are investigating the company that owns a plastics factory after workers were swept away by cataclysmic flooding unleashed by Hurricane Helene last week.
Two employees at Impact Plastics, located in Erwin, Tennessee, were found dead while more were still missing as of Tuesday.
According to that employee, supervisors never told the workers they could leave, even as the water started to rise outside. Impact Plastics addresses ‘missing and deceased employees’ after floods
On Wednesday, First Judicial District Attorney General Steve Finney confirmed the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will investigate allegations involving Impact Plastics’ leadership’s actions during Friday’s flooding.
“I asked that they review the occurrences of Friday, September 27, 2024, to identify any potential criminal violations,” Finney said in the release.
The allegations referenced relate to whether, as water rapidly rose in a low-lying Erwin industrial park, the management of Impact Plastics didn’t send employees home soon enough, gave them the impression they weren’t free to leave, or specifically forbade them from leaving until it was too late.
The TBI confirmed its agents were “investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics” and referred all other questions to Finney’s office, which said it would have no further comment until the investigation concludes.
‘Supervisors didn’t tell us that we could go’
Impact Plastics employee Zinna Adkins stepped outside her workplace at 10:54 a.m. on Friday and captured water rising in the parking lot on her cell phone. But at that time, she said no supervisor informed employees they were free to leave.
“We were all talking to the supervisors and telling everybody, ‘Look, we don’t need to be here,’” Adkins recounted to WJHL. “Our phone alerts were saying we need to flee the areas. And they never said anything about it. And supervisors didn’t tell us that we could go.”
Adkins is among several employees who have asserted that they weren’t allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm’s impact.