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A firm foundation in New Orleans
A Valley company participated in the first phase of the project.
HUBBARD — The city of New Orleans has built a memorial to those lost during Hurricane Katrina, and that memorial is being built on concrete laid by Mahoning Valley hands.
Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the U.S.
Katrina formed Aug. 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, which flooded when the levee system failed.
Fred McBride and Ron Perna, owners of F&C Concrete in Hubbard, spent more than a week participating in the first phase of a memorial to those lost in the hurricane.
“We spent about eight days in New Orleans pouring concrete at the memorial. We poured all the sidewalks in the shape of the eye of the hurricane at the memorial,” said McBride.
The city, passionate about the devastation brought about by the hurricane, rallied around the efforts to build the memorial, said McBride.
“The city is basically 85 percent back together. The people still take it to heart though. There is no making light of anything about it because they are really sensitive about the entire situation,” he said.
The residents have every reason to remain sensitive about Katrina. The hurricane took 1,400 lives in Louisiana, inundated 80 percent of the city with 480 billion pounds of water that sat for nearly a month, damaged or destroyed 95 percent of the city’s nearly 350 buildings, destroyed 700 city vehicles at a cost of $128 million, and damaged 134,344 housing units.
Perna said the memorial will represent what may be residents’ most compelling reason to remain sensitive about Katrina. The 85 unclaimed victims lost in the hurricane were laid to rest in above-ground crypts at the memorial site Thursday and Friday.
Both men are happy to have participated in the building of the memorial and are happy to be back home but wonder what will happen as another hurricane hits the city.
jgoodwin@vindy.com