Family members say some of their loved ones didn't get word that they could leave, but the plant, Impact Plastics, denies it threatened to fire anyone who left.

TVA's system of dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries has been tested by record flooding from Hurricane Helene, which drenched Western North Carolina and East Tennessee as a tropical storm , washing out interstate lanes and trapping residents as small streams in the Great Smoky Mountains suddenly became raging rivers.

Nuclear Fuel Services, which processes highly enriched uranium for the Navy in Unicoi County, said its plant posed no risk after flooding.