WORLD> America
New Orleans residents to return to no power
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-03 23:40

"Like the storm, I'm done," said Mayor Tim Kerner, trying to hold open his heavy, sleep-deprived eyes. "We kept the town dry."

There was no major partying on New Orleans' Bourbon Street, though.

Few businesses were open, including grocers or gas stations. But there were signs of recovery. Utility workers, contractors and government employees were allowed to return Tuesday. Banks and other firms were to return Wednesday.

The city expected to begin this weekend bringing back the estimated 18,000 residents who didn't have the means to evacuate on their own and were sent to shelters in Louisiana and other states on buses, trains or aircraft.

Power outages caused by Gustav forced officials to transport scores of patients from hospitals and other medical facilities for fear they couldn't survive long without air conditioning.

The state's secretary of Health and Hospitals, Alan Levine, told The Associated Press these patients were critically ill, and a few were from hospital burn units. As of Tuesday evening, none of the patients had died during the recent evacuation. Officials said early Tuesday evening that about 140 had been transferred, and the number grew during the evening.

Residents were just ready to get back home.

Curtis Helms, 47, left New Orleans on Saturday with only $20 in his pocket and the stripped T-shirt and denim shorts he was wearing. He was still wearing the same clothes Tuesday at a shelter in Alabama and said he only left because Nagin threatened to toss those caught on the street behind bars.

"Right now, I'd rather be home, even with no electricity," Helms said.

Others questioned the need to evacuate.

"Next time, it's going to be bad because people who evacuated like us aren't going to evacuate," Catherine Jones, 53, of Silsbee, Texas, who spent three days on a cot at a church shelter with her disabled son. "They jumped the gun."

Emergency officials strongly defended the decision to evacuate, saying that with something as unpredictable as a hurricane, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Officials noted that, yes, New Orleans' levees held, and Gustav struck only a glancing blow. But when trees fell on homes, power lines went down and roads were washed out in parts of south Louisiana, there was no one around to get hurt.

"The reasons you're not seeing dramatic stories of rescue is because we had a successful evacuation," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. "The only reason we don't have more tales of people in grave danger is because everyone heeded the instructions to get out of town."

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