Champernell Washington, left, is comforted by Donna Banks as Washington grieves for a relative who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while sitting on the levee wall in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006. Hurricane Katrina forced water through the levee in two places helping to flood the Lower Ninth Ward.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

It was a day of remembrance, sorrow and renewal Tuesday for residents of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities as they marked the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Bells tolled throughout New Orleans at 9:38 a.m., the precise minute a year earlier that raging flood waters began rupturing the city’s levee system, unleashing a catastrophic deluge.

New Orleans’ population of about 460,000 has been halved by the destruction, which forced residents from their homes and workplaces.

In photo at left, Champernell Washington, left, is comforted by Donna Banks as Washington grieves for a relative who died in Katrina’s aftermath. The two on Tuesday visited the levee wall in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, one of the cities’ hardest-hit neighborhoods.