Death of Tennessee plastics plant employee in Hurricane Helene leaves a close-knit family in grief
Bertha Mendoza, 56, had just celebrated her birthday a week before Hurricane Helene floodwaters swept her away in Erwin, Tennessee.
September had been a month of celebrating Bertha Mendoza’s birthday, as well as her son's and grandson's.
It's now also the month she died.
Mendoza, 56, was one of the employees of Impact Plastics Inc. in Erwin, Tennessee, who were swept from the open bed of a truck trying to bring her and other workers to safety from the floodwaters of Hurricane Helene.
Her birthday was Sept. 2. But unlike other years when she and her son Guillermo, 33, marked their September birthdays individually, she had asked to have a family gathering to celebrate them all.
“We just decided to throw a big birthday party on Saturday," Sept. 21, Guillermo Mendoza said in a phone interview. “That was amazing. We got to see everybody there. That was a good time for my mom.”
Rating: 5