New Orleans evacuees can return Thursday

Bush to visit on Wednesday
President Bush planned to tour several storm-ravaged parts of Louisiana on Wednesday, the White House announced. Bush met Tuesday with Vice President Dick Cheney, several Cabinet secretaries and about 20 other advisers to assess the damage to U.S. oil drilling and refining operations in the area. Bush said that while it's too early to assess the damage, it should prompt Congress to OK more domestic oil production.

None of it mattered for those eager to get back. 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.

Those trying to filter back into the coast were greeted by police checkpoints and National Guardsmen who told them it was still too dangerous to return. With only a handful of communities allowing re-entry, thousands grew frustrated on roads and in shelters, sitting on uncomfortable cots and wondering why the buses wouldn't come and drive them back.

Chris Algero of New Orleans was gassing up his car Tuesday in Bay St. Louis, Miss., preparing to make his third attempt to return to his home. He told msnbc.com he’d already been turned back at Interstate 10 and U.S. 90, in the first instance forced by barricades to turn around and in the second refused entry by sympathetic but unbending Louisiana state troopers.

“It’s frustrating,” said the 42-year-old veterinarian. “I did a lot of rescue work after Katrina, both of people and pets. They need to let in the people who can help.”

Algero, who rode the storm out at his mother’s house in Bay St. Louis with his son and a friend, said it was particularly aggravating to be on the outside looking in because he had spoken to some of his neighbors in uptown New Orleans and heard that “if you’re in the city, you’re able to move around fine.”

Eighty-eight-year-old Malvin A. Cavalier Sr. was turned away as he tried to return to his home in the city's Desire neighborhood. He took it in stride.

"I can't get upset, because this is an emergency, you know," he told The Associated Press. "I just have to be calm and try to do the best I can. If I have to sleep in my car again tonight, I have to do it."

Restoring power a priority
In St. Mary Parish, near the epicenter of the storm, the focus was first on restoring electric to the hospital and courthouse. Sheriff's deputies were mostly picking up tree limbs from roads and watching homes where trees fell onto roofs.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said officials were focused on taking care of the roughly 1,000 patients with critical needs who were evacuated from hospitals and nursing homes, while also working with utilities to fix the power outages.

The power outages stopped New Orleans' daily newspaper presses, forcing The Times-Picayune to go online-only Tuesday. The cancellation of the print edition evoked memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the paper published exclusively on the Internet for three days before returning with a print edition.

Gustav, no longer a hurricane, was still an ugly storm that's expected to dump several inches of rain in northern Louisiana and east Texas. Jindal said Louisiana was only at "halftime" and was worried the damage from rain could exceed Gustav's pounding of the coast.

"This is a serious storm that has caused serious damage in our state," Jindal said before leaving Baton Rouge for a helicopter tour of the mostly rural, low-lying parishes along the state's southeastern and central coast, also home to the state's oil and natural gas industries.
 
In Mississippi, where sections of the Gulf Coast were still isolated by flood waters, Gov. Haley Barbour urged residents not to return to their homes until Wednesday.

Oil companies look for damage
Oil companies and rig owners, which shut down virtually all oil and natural gas production in the Gulf as Gustav approached, headed out to look for damage. Some were already putting equipment and people back in place to resume operations.

Jindal said state officials were deferring to local communities on when they will reopen. The governor said there were 11,000 crewmen working on bringing back power to Louisiana, where the storm mostly damaged transmission lines — meaning large groups of customers could see he lights and air conditioning come back all at once. Still, Jindal warned those without power not to expect a fix overnight.

The New Orleans sewer system was damaged, and hospitals statewide were working with skeleton crews on backup power. Drinking water continued to flow in the city and the pumps that keep it dry never shut down — two critical service failings that contributed to Katrina's toll.

Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge had to move high-risk patients — including some moved to there before the storm from other hospitals — after its own power went out and its generators kicked in.

"When you're on backup power, there's a limited number of plugs you can use," said Dr. Michael Kaiser, chief medical officer for the LSU Health Care Services Division.

With three months left in the Atlantic hurricane season, three other storms were lining up off the U.S. coast, with Tropical Storm Hanna leading the way. Hanna has plenty of time to strengthen into a hurricane before possibly striking Florida and Georgia later in the week.

The Associated Press, NBC News and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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