Tennessee plastics factory employee recounts narrow escape through floodwater

EWRIN, Tenn. (WJHL) – Impact Plastics employee Zinna Adkins stepped outside her workplace at 10:54 a.m. on Friday and captured water rising in the parking lot on her cellphone. But at that time, she said no supervisor informed employees they were free to leave.

"We were all talking to the supervisors and telling everybody, 'Look, we don't need to be here,'" Adkins recalled. "Our phone alerts were saying we need to flee the areas. And they never said anything about it. And supervisors didn't tell us that we could go."

Adkins said that while she was never personally told not to leave, as a temporary employee, she didn't feel she could abandon her job. By noon, with no power and floodwater nearly 5 feet high in the parking lot, Adkins said employees were told they could go home. But she says by then, it was too late.

"If it would have been any deeper, I wouldn't want to walk through it. It was almost underneath my shoulders when I got through the parking lot," Adkins told Nexstar's WJHL.

Not everyone made it out. Adkins said three employees were found deceased and three more are still missing, including Rosa Reynoso, whose husband is among a group that has been holding up photos of their loved ones at every news conference.

Adkins says she worked directly with Rosa.

"I worked with Rosa every day," Adkins said through tears. "She was so sweet, and she don't need to be missing, or her family don't need to be going through none of this if they (Impact Plastics) would've just said, 'Go,' or, 'Y'all don't need to work today.'"

Akins added, "They knew there was a chance. ... We work next to the river. None of this would be happening. None of the families would be going [through] what they're dealing with."

In a statement to WJHL, Impact Plastics senior management said, "Employees were dismissed by management to return to their homes in time for them to escape the industrial park." The company also offered "sympathy for the missing and deceased employees."

Adkins said she's not heard directly from anyone at the company.

"Impact Plastics has not tried to contact me in any way shape or form. So, I don't believe that they have any heartfelt sympathies," said Adkins.

Adkins says it's been a rough few days and nights since the flood.

"I not sleeping. When I do sleep, I dream of being in the water," Adkins said. "I think maybe if I could have stayed, maybe I could have done something more. But at the same time, I'm thankful to God that I'm here."