(August 29, 2007)—New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin led the bell ringing for Hurricane Katrina survivors in memory of the victims Wednesday, marking the second anniversary of the day life changed forever in the city.

After he rang the large bell a dozen times, the crowd continued wordlessly ringing their handheld bells for more than a minute.

The bell ringing was also a commemoration for the progress New Orleans has made toward recovering from the devastation two years ago.

"We ring the bells for a city that is in recovery, that is struggling, that is performing miracles on a
daily basis,” Nagin said.

Katrina was a powerful Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005.

It broke levees in New Orleans, flooded 80 percent of the city and killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.

New Orleans churches held memorial services Wednesday, including one at the historic St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square, and residents held private ceremonies to remember where they were when Katrina hit, and what they lost.

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