Gustav Evacuees Return Home To La. Coast

Nearly 1.2 Million Homes Without Power; Could Takes Weeks To Restore

(CBS/AP)  Thousands of people who fled Hurricane Gustav forced the city to reluctantly open its doors Wednesday, but nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses across Louisiana were still without electricity.

As residents came home to New Orleans, President Bush returned to the site of one of the biggest failures of his presidency to show that the government had turned a corner since its bungled response to Katrina.

Faced with traffic backups on paths into the city, Mayor Ray Nagin gave up checking ID badges and automobile placards designed to keep residents out until early Thursday. Those who returned said if the city was safe enough for repair crews and health care workers, it was safe enough for them, too.

"People need to get home, need to get their houses straight and get back to work," said George Johnson, who used back roads to sneak into the city. "They want to keep you out of your own property. That's just not right."

While the delays returning home are inconvenient, the bigger problem is the badly damaged electric power system throughout the state, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. Despite the best efforts of a small army of utility workers, officials say it will take weeks to restore power to the state.

"There is no excuse for the delay. We absolutely need to quicken the pace at which power is restored," Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

Within hours of returning to his suburban home, Paul Braswell was sweating over an outdoor grill as he cooked the chicken and deer sausage he stored in his freezer alongside gallon-size blocks of ice before evacuating with his family to Mississippi.

"We don't have any power, and we don't know when it'll come back on, so we're going to eat all we can until it does," he said. "Tomorrow, we're boiling shrimp my mom left in her freezer."

Restoring power was critical to reopening schools, businesses and neighborhoods. Without electricity, gas stations could not pump fuel, and hospitals were running out of fuel for generators.

Some places never lost power, including the Superdome, where the Saints planned to open their regular football season Sunday.

In Jefferson Parish, which also reopened Wednesday, officials reported that most sewage-treatment stations were out of service because there was no power. The parish urged residents not to flush toilets, wash clothes or dishes, or even take showers out of concern that the system might backup and send sewage flowing in homes and businesses.

After touring an emergency center and flooded-out farmland, President Bush praised the government response to Gustav as "excellent," but he urged utility companies in neighboring states to send extra manpower to Louisiana if they could spare it.

"One of the key things that needs to happen is that they've got to get electricity up here in Louisiana," Bush said.

The administration's swift reaction was a significant change from its response three years ago to Katrina, a far more devastating storm. Roughly 1,600 people were killed, and the White House was harshly criticized for stepping in too late.

To residents who lived through Katrina, that failure was still fresh.

"What do I care if Bush is visiting? I'm still trying to get my house back together from Katrina," housekeeper Flora Raymond said. "This time things went better, but we still need help from the last time."

In the days before Gustav arrived, nearly 2 million people were evacuated from the Louisiana coast. Only 16 deaths were attributed to the storm in the U.S.

Nearly 80,000 people remained in shelters in Louisiana and surrounding states. An estimated 18,000 people fled from New Orleans on buses and trains provided by the city. Officials did not expect to begin bringing them back until this weekend.

Inside the shelters, the days of living on a cot with strangers on all sides was taking a toll. At a church in Montgomey, Ala., an argument in a parking lot between two sisters over the gas money needed to return to New Orleans erupted into a fight that ended with slashed tires, a punch in the face and an arrest.

"I wanted to give her something," Samantha Williams said, holding her swelling lip. "But she wanted so much more."

Five people were arrested Wednesday in only the second case of attempted looting in New Orleans since the city emptied. Worried about potential looting of vacant properties, Nagin said the city would maintain its dusk-to-dawn curfew indefinitely.

There were fresh reminders that the 2008 hurricane season is far from over. Tropical Storm Hanna pounded flood-plagued Haiti before taking an expected turn north for the U.S. coast. Farther out to sea, Hurricane Ike spun westward across the Atlantic and could arrive in the Bahamas on Sunday as a hurricane.

Tropical Storm Josephine was out there, too.

[keithle1]

Let the fools stay. But don''t rescue them. We need to thin out the herd. New Orleans/Louisiana have too many incredibly stupid people.

"Help us! We need help! Help us! We need help!
Save us from ourselves! Risk your lives to save our fat a s s e s! HELP!"

I would love to see a few monster Category 5 hurricanes hit New Orleans & wipe it out. Mother Nature take over the city once & for all. Bloated bodies floating out to sea.

[klingon69]

How much do you want to bet that just because it wasn''''t as bad as Katrina this time, that most won''''t leave next time. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Posted by erasmus81 at 01:54 PM : Sep 03, 2008
That''s happened there before

[grammawhamma]

Wow...I can''t believe these people have the nerve to complain because they were inconvenienced by evacuating for a storm that wasn''t devestating.

Would they like to live in a tornado zone when you only have a few minutes warning (if that) before your house is flattened!?!

What the h.ell is wrong with some people!

[keithle1]

Some won''t be so keen to evacuate the next time. Which may be sooner than they would like. Then it''ll be Katrina II & they''ll be squealing like stuck pigs. So what if the Coast Guard risk their lives trying to save these ignorant fools. I wouldn''t even bother about the old grannies in their 80''s & 90''s who flat out refuse to leave. S c r e w ''em. Drown, b e e y o t c h e s, drown. Better off rescuing dogs & cats.

Rats look at these folks & say, "Dag! Haven''t youse heard of a little ole thing called BIRTH CONTROL?"

[keithle1]

Y''all want to live in your precious Louisiana. "Sportsmen''s Paradise." Tee hee. Better yew than me.

[airboatboy]

I was amazed at the people complaining about the conditions of the shelters they were taken to, but then I realized that they probably didn''t feel well because of altitude sickness.

[erasmus81]

"I say if they choose not to evacuate, then they self rescue." Posted by Displeased at 03:13 PM : Sep 03, 2008

Didn''t I read something where they said that they wouldn''t be rescuing anyone this time, if they chose to stay behind? I wonder if they would have stuck to that?

[pensacola98]

I heard one report that waste water treatment services are not 100%. That might explain the comment about Mayor Nagin''s claim that the city is very vulnerable.

[displeased]

Ah geez, I guess staying ALIVE isn''''t enough to make it worthwhile, eh?
How much do you want to bet that just because it wasn''''t as bad as Katrina this time, that most won''''t leave next time. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Posted by erasmus81

I agree, people are idiiots. It''s a freakin storm that may cause wide spread damage, but yet people are complaining about being inconvenienced and already have plans of not evacuating next time. Then we''ll have to risk rescuers lives to go in and get them. I say if they choose not to evacuate, then they self rescue. If they make it, great. If not, that was their gamble that we shouldn''t have to pay for.

[mdean05]

You are choosing to live below sea level.. Now that''s stupid stupid stupid.....

[displeased]

SistaTee, why does this welfare check rhetoric follow you around everywhere? You must fight the obsession! You can do it!

[xmanborg]

SistaTee

You know thats was not very nice but it was funny.

[erasmus81]

People want to get back to their homes because they are afraid that they won''t have anything left if they don''t.

"George Johnson, 41, was glad to heed the call to leave - but said he would stay put next time because returning was such a hassle."

Ah geez, I guess staying ALIVE isn''t enough to make it worthwhile, eh?

How much do you want to bet that just because it wasn''t as bad as Katrina this time, that most won''t leave next time. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[lewiston14]

Now that your coming back;
If the basement is flooded have somebody turn off the electric.
Dont try to back feed a generator into the house unless you know what you doing. You could fry the guy on the pole trying to get you electric back on.
Keep a generator 10 feet from the house outside
Only the biggest generators will run an AC unit.
Chain up the generator because your neighbor wants it more then you do.
Dont drink the tap water till they have time to test it unless you like sitting on the toilet for a week, use bottled. The bigger the better.
Throw out all the stuff in the frige. its bad by now.
If the sewer system in you area is working then showers and such are ok. If its backing up that dirty water has to go somewhere usually the basement.
Dont touch a wet electrical device.
Stay away from down power lines of trees leaning on electric lines. Remember trees have water that carries electric.

[pensacola98]

Hopefully, our neighbors in New Orleans will get their commercial power back on soon.

Anything that runs on electricity like gasoline stations, ATM''s, grocery stores, and restaurants sure will be nicer to visit if the power is on.

[xmanborg]

Its nice that George W Bush paid the Gulf Coast Residents a visit after the Hurricane and ACTED LIKE HE CARED ABOUT NEW ORLEANS AND THE GULF COAST RESIDENTS.

Way to Go Bushie your Fake-ness almost worked.

[mawskrat]

when Nagin say very vulnerable he means keep the pork coming