Families in Unicoi County are desperate for answers about missing family members

UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. (WCYB) – Families of people missing from Impact Plastic in Unicoi County are now growing increasingly impatient. They now use friends to translate across a language barrier and wonder why no one has responded to their cries for help.

“I want to know why help didn’t come to save the people who were there, including his wife,” a translator said. “There were five people on the roof of a trailer who called 911 asking for help.”

“Our great emergency services here in the county were at capacity,” said Unicoi County Emergency Management Director Jimmy Erwin. “They did everything they could to save lives that day. Some were saved. We’re still looking for some. We still have hope of finding more alive ones.”

Emergency management officials now say they have been able to rescue four people from the business, but added that their resources have been stretched thin in several rescue operations, including at Unicoi County Hospital, where staff said the water was so high It quickly became clear that efforts to drive patients and then boot them out had failed.

“It’s hard to estimate the time for something so quick,” said Jennifer Harrah, Unicoi County Hospital employee. “It was constant movement and rescue efforts.”

Now crews are working to build a temporary emergency room at Unicoi County High School.

Ballad Health said there is a renewed commitment to rebuild.

“I don’t know what the plan is at the moment. We are still in the process of responding to all of this,” said Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health. “So we need a little bit of time to figure it all out. This community is part of our family and we will not abandon them.”

“I guess it’s too early to say how much it will cost. Do we have the money, how long will it take?”

“We’re just not there yet.”

Authorities said they have found three bodies so far, one of which has been identified.