Tennessee safety agency says workers killed in flooding were given time to evacuate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Workers at an East Tennessee plastics company who died in flooding from last year's Hurricane Helene had time to evacuate, albeit by “makeshift routes,” according to an investigation from the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration released on Wednesday.

“It was found that Impact Plastics, Inc. exercised reasonable diligence to dismiss employees and direct them to leave the site in this emergency situation,” the report concludes. “As the deaths of Impact Plastics, Inc. employees are not work related, no citations are recommended.”

Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the offices once a week were killed on Sept. 27 after they were washed away by floodwaters. Attorneys for their surviving family members vehemently dispute the conclusion that they were dismissed from work with time to evacuate safely.

“TOSHA’s report ignores the testimony of multiple witnesses, critical text messages, emergency alert logs, and photographic evidence that tell the real story about Impact Plastics’ fatal failures," said attorney Alex Little, who represents the family of Johnny Peterson. "We’re grateful that in America, juries — not bureaucrats citing unnamed sources — will decide the truth based on all the evidence.”

Peterson was one of 12 people who tried to escape the rising waters by climbing onto the bed of a semi-trailer loaded with giant spools of plastic piping that was parked outside the factory. When floodwaters eventually overwhelmed the truck, six people were able to use the piping for floatation and were later rescued. The other six drowned.

TOSHA notes that its investigation was hampered by “phone service disruptions, language barriers, and other challenges.” It also says that the flooding destroyed the company's workplace safety records.

Attorney Luke Widener, who represents the family of contractor Sibrina Barnett and other victims, alleged in a statement that many safety records, including an emergency evacuation plan, never existed. He pointed out that workers at surrounding businesses in the industrial park were able to evacuate safely.

“While we agree with TOSHA’s suggestion that Impact Plastics should improve its emergency plans, this comes far too late for our clients,” Widener said.

The TOSHA report relies on the fact that a number of Impact Plastics employees did escape the flood, despite the fact that the one road in and out of the park was already covered in water by the time they began to evacuate. Some were able to escape by driving or walking over an embankment to a nearby highway after workers at a neighboring business dismantled a fence there. Others escaped by driving over a makeshift path onto nearby railroad tracks that an employee at a neighboring business created with a tractor. Still others were able to escape by walking to the railroad tracks, according to the report.

In response to questions about these makeshift escape routes, Chris Cannon, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said in an email, “Evacuation by auto was not the only feasible evacuation route." He added, "TOSHA would not be able to hold an employer accountable for road conditions.”

A statement for the company from attorney Stephen Ross Johnson says Impact Plastics welcomes the results of the TOSHA investigation

“Critically, and contrary to what was reported by some in the media, Tennessee OSHA ‘found no evidence that employees were threatened with termination or forced to work beyond a safe evacuation point’,” the statement reads.

In addition to the TOSHA, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been probing the six deaths. That investigation is ongoing.

FILE - Daniel Delgado, top, is comforted by his 16-year-old son Angel Delgado, right, as he mourns the loss of his wife and Angel's mother, Monica Hernandez, who died at Impact Plastics during flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in Erwin, Tenn., Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - Damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Helene is seen around Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tenn., on Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - Daniel Delgado reaches to touch a photo of his wife, Monica Hernandez, who died at Impact Plastics during flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, at a vigil for victims of the tragedy in Erwin, Tenn., Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - Impact Plastics Inc. is seen on Nov. 22, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. Multiple workers died trying to escape flood waters during Hurricane Helene in September. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Dominican President Luis Abinader has announced more than a dozen measures to crack down on migrants who have entered the Dominican Republic illegally as people in neighboring Haiti flee a surge in gang violence.

The measures that Abinader qualified as “painful but necessary” in a speech Sunday include charging patients for hospital services and sanctioning those who rent homes or commercial businesses to migrants who lack proper documentation.

“The rights of Dominicans will not be displaced. Our identity will not be diluted. Our generosity will not be exploited. Here, solidarity has limits,” Abinader said.

He said that starting on April 21, hospital staff will be required to ask patients for their identification, work permit and proof of residence.

If a patient is unable to present any of those documents, they will receive medical attention and then be deported immediately, Abinader said, adding that a migration agent will be stationed at every hospital to ensure compliance.

The government also will deploy an additional 1,500 soldiers to the border that the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, boosting the total number of personnel stationed there to 11,000, Abinader said.

He also announced he would speed up construction of a border wall to add another eight miles (13 kilometers) to the 34 miles (54 kilometers) already built.

“I recognize that many are concerned about the threat Haiti poses. Concerned about the irregular migration it causes. Concerned about the burden this places on our hospitals, our schools, the risks to our security, and the strain on our economy,” Abinader said.

So far, his administration has deported more than 180,000 suspected undocumented migrants since it announced in October that it would deport 10,000 of them a week. Human rights activists and dozens of those who have been deported have accused the government of abuse, including breaking into homes without a warrant to arrest people.

Abinader also announced that legislators would debate a new bill calling for stricter penalties against those who help migrants cross into the Dominican Republic illegally.

“The violence that is destroying Haiti will not cross over to the Dominican Republic,” Abinader said.

The president added he would try to have businesses hire only Dominican workers in certain sectors.

“For far too long, agriculture and construction have depended on illegal workers,” he said.

Abinader spoke a week after an ultranationalist movement organized a protest in a Dominican community where many Haitians live to demand that the government impose measures against illegal migration as it threatened to hold a national protest if its demands were not met.

Abinader’s announcement also comes as gangs in Haiti that control at least 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, continue to attack once-peaceful communities in a bid to control more territory.

He called on the international community to “do their duty,” noting that Haiti needs help and that the Dominican Republic “cannot and should not burden a crisis that is not theirs.”

Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.

Supporters of the Antigua Orden Dominicana nationalist group take part in march against immigration at a Haitian settlement called "El Hoyo de Friusa" in Bavaro, Dominican Republic, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Supporters of the Antigua Orden Dominicana nationalist group take part in a march against immigration at a Haitian settlement called "El Hoyo de Friusa" in Bavaro, Dominican Republic, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Angelo Vasquez, center, the leader of the Antigua Orden Dominicana nationalist group speaks to supporters during a march against immigration at a Haitian settlement called "El Hoyo de Friusa" in Bavaro, Dominican Republic, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)