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Gustav Evacuees Restless, Told Not To Return To LA

LEWISVILLE (CBS 11 News) ― The traffic backups could be seen south of Dallas and outside of Houston as Gulf Coast residents began to leave North Texas on Tuesday.

But many evacuees are not clear when they will be able to head home. They say they haven't received much information on Hurricane Gustav.

"I have to call other family members to find out what's going on," said Anthony Davis, an evacuee.

The evacuation order for Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange Texas came at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Those who had heard at the Dallas Convention Center were packing, but not all of them are ready to go.

"If it was up to me, we'd stay one more day. But my mom needs her medicine and stuff like that. I got to do what I can for my family," said Julius Green, and evacuee from Orange, Texas.

But watching others pack up and leave are making some evacuees restless. Evacuee Catherine Carter said she's wondering "what's going on, if the streets are safe, if their families are safe."

Carter left Lafourche, Lousiana with her cell phone, but she didn't bring a charger and other items. "I'm very anxious to go back home, and I'm hoping things are safe so we can all go back home," she said.

Dallas County Emergency Management officials say they're not sending any buses with evacuees back to Louisiana Tuesday. Some parts of Louisiana have no power and other critical services.

Checkpoints popped up around New Orleans on Tuesday to keep the city empty of residents so work could get under way to restore power and other critical services knocked out by the hurricane.

Shelter living is getting stressful for Andrea Charles from Houma, Louisiana. "It's really aggravating going through this hurricane; it's really hard and it's really stressing a lot of us out," said Andrea Charles.

People living in the shelters don't want to be left out of the loop when word is given to go home. The word will have to filter down from state officials to regions, counties and then shelters.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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