NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Gulf Coast residents are marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina today by casting wreaths into the water to remember the hundreds killed and listening to their leaders promise a brighter future. But part of the catastrophe lives on in abandoned homes with spray-painted circles indicating whether bodies were found inside after the storm and resulting flood.

President Barack Obama joined those hailing the recovery made so far in New Orleans, which he said has become a "symbol of resilience and community."

Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, now president of the National Urban League, says the neighborhood down river from the French Quarter known as the Lower 9th Ward is "hallowed ground now." That's where hundreds died and many homes have not been rebuilt.

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