The Impact Plastics factory in rural Erwin, Tennessee, stands just a few hundred feet from the Nolichucky River. The company, founded in 1987, manufactures plastic injection molded components for original equipment manufacturers at the Erwin plant, located in the aptly named Riverview Industrial Park. Only a parking lot and two roads separate the workplace from the river.

When Hurricane Helene hit the region on Friday, September 27, its impact was cataclysmic. Rainfall swelled the river, and the waters quickly overtook the industrial park. It was one small piece of a catastrophe that has devastated the Appalachian region, with entire towns submerged — there are dozens of towns underwater in East Tennessee alone — and a death toll that, as of this writing, has surpassed 160 people.

Yet the flooding in Erwin led to a particular tragedy, the blame for which Impact Plastics workers pin on their employer: workers were inside the plant that day, and in the hurricane’s immediate wake, six were missing. In the days since, the families of two of those six — Bertha Mendoza and Lidia Verdugo, both Mexican citizens — have confirmed that their loved ones died in the flood.