TYLER, Texas (AP) - Hundreds of Hurricane Gustav evacuees today left Texas shelters and headed home.

Others bided their time waiting for buses to return them to residences mostly unscathed by the storm that made landfall Monday in Louisiana.

Officials hope to have some 8,000 Texas and Louisiana residents out of shelters and back to their homes by tomorrow night.

Governor Rick Perry today visited evacuees in Tyler and praised the state's response to Gustav.

In Irving, about 140 Louisiana residents today waited for word on when buses would take them home. Children were watching movies or playing basketball, while adults tried to stay occupied.

Texas has yet to put a price tag on the preparations and evacuations for Gustav.

Resources deployed by the state included hundreds of buses and 7,500 members of the Texas National Guard.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-09-03-08 1620EDT