Impact Plastics and its CEO, Gerald O'Connor, have been sued by the family of one of its Tennessee employees who was killed by catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. The wrongful death lawsuit claims that workers were forced to stay at their posts even when managers knew conditions were growing dangerous.

Text messages between an Impact Plastics supervisor and his daughter show workers were still at the factory long after flood warnings were issued.

Johnny Peterson was one of five Impact Plastic employees who died Sept. 27 in historic flooding in Erwin, Tennessee. His family said he died a hero.

The lawsuit alleges that workers asked on multiple occasions to leave throughout the morning, but they were not permitted to do so.