The flooding in Helene trapped employees at a plastics factory in Tennessee, some dead and others missing

Flooding from Hurricane Helene has trapped workers at a plastics factory in eastern Tennessee. Several family members learned Monday that their loved ones had not survived.

Some workers’ relatives received frantic video calls as flooding swelled around Impact Plastics in Erwin, where rushing water swept some workers away from the parking lot next to the Nolichucky River.

The families and friends had posted desperate pleas on social media for help finding their relatives. Some appeared at a news conference with photos of the missing people and urged authorities to locate them.

Over time, their posts were updated to announce that their loved ones, including several Latinos, had died.

Reports on social media said workers were trapped outside the building, which was surrounded by fast-moving floodwaters that prevented them from leaving.

Alexa Peterson of Erwin confirmed to NBC News that her father, Johnny Peterson, was among the dead. According to social media, he appears to have been one of the workers. Peterson sought legal advice and declined further comment.

In interviews with WCYB News 5 in Tennessee, family members said their loved ones told them they weren’t advised what to do.

Fernando Ruiz, who was looking for his mother, told the station through an interpreter that she was still working during the rain and called him. He said he told her to leave, but she told him the managers hadn’t told her anything.

NBC News has reached out to authorities in Unicoi County for comment but has not heard back.

Impact Plastics issued a press release expressing condolences for missing or deceased employees, as well as a contractor whose status the company did not disclose.

“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” said Gerald O’Connor, who founded the company in 1987, according to the release.

“At no time were employees informed that they would be fired if they left the facility. For employees who did not speak English, bilingual employees were among the group of managers who delivered the message,” the company said.

The company’s press release said there was heavy rainfall on Friday morning, but that it eased as the morning progressed. However, employees were laid off when water covered the parking lot and adjacent street and the facility lost power.

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Tennessee.

Another woman named Guadalupe Hernandez Corona said she was looking for her sister, Monica Hernandez.

“She said they were at the factory,” Hernandez Corona told the station, “and they were up on the trailer saying goodbye and telling us to call 911 and pray for them.”

An immigration group working with some families called for better services for immigrants during times of disaster. In a news release, the group, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said its staff has witnessed people being unable to receive interpreter services from local and state government agencies and that some immigrant family members have been asked to provide identification, which is “their Search disabled people”. missing loved ones.”

Hurricane Helene has killed more than 120 people and left a trail of destruction since hitting Florida as a Category 4 storm on Thursday.

It devastated entire communities, causing flooding rains in mountain towns in North Carolina and cutting off some residents from food, water and electricity as it tore roads out of their communities.