HOUSTON (AP) - Thousands of Southeast Texans who fled from Hurricane Gustav are returning home today.

The once-mighty storm only skirted Texas -- sprinkling rain along the eastern edges of the state -- and some people wondered why they had to evacuate.

At a church in Tyler, where about 5,000 evacuees from Beaumont flocked -- displaced Taco Bell employee Shyanna Coleman fumed about leaving with her three children.

Coleman says after she saw that Gustav wasn't going to hit Beaumont -- she could have stayed home.

But Southeast Texas officials defended their decisions to order evacuations from Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties, which were in the predicted path of Gustav.

The storm reached Category 4 intensity before weakening as it made landfall yesterday some 200 miles east of Texas.

The order for the three counties about 100 miles east of Houston was lifted early today.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-09-02-08 1415EDT