It has been a week and a half since catastrophic flooding swept through portions of East Tennessee and western North Carolina, leaving communities devastated in its wake. The bodies of nine people who were swept away by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene were recovered in Unicoi County.
Five of the victims were employees of Impact Plastics, a company now under investigation for how it handled its workers during the disaster. One employee remains missing, and recovery efforts are ongoing.
Many of the workers at Impact Plastics do not speak English, raising concerns about how well immigrant employees were informed and protected during the flooding.
“We noticed immediately the lack of language services as well as cultural understanding and outreach to the diverse communities that call Tennessee home,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).
Luna said TIRRC has sent staff to Unicoi County to act as a liaison between local government and Spanish-speaking families. One of those families is that of Guillermo Mendoza, whose mother was among the Impact Plastics employees swept away by the floodwaters.