Soon after New Orleans dodged the wrath of Hurricane Gustav, a storm began approaching the city: Thousands of tired evacuees anxious to get home and see if their worldly possessions had survived.

Talk radio squawked with angry callers ready to get home and hosts begged citizens not to return until Mayor Ray Nagin have given the go-ahead to come back.  And the sides of the road were littered with travelers who had been turned away at one of the many checkpoints manned by State Police.

Nagin told residents Monday night that they should be back in the city in a few days, opposed to the few weeks that thousands had endured during Katrina, as they watched helplessly on televisions around the country as the city filled with water from Lake Pontchartrain. 

At the checkpoints, the elation from Gustav's misfired blow had ebbed to frustration as many were denied entry.

"What do they want me to do?  I can't sleep in the street" said Jean Omar Saxby, an Algiers woman who longed to get home but had been turned away north of the Twin Spans in Slidell.

At the Slidell checkpoint, dozens of armed National Guardsmen and State Police either waved the people through who had the proper credentials first tier personnel, which were rescue and repair workers onto the Twin Spans.  While those with a kind story, an itching desire to get home and no credentials were sent back.

"Sorry, New Orleans is closed," said one trooper, adding, "There are no services in New Orleans," before motioning the black SUV away.

At noon, State Police at the Slidell checkpoint said that they had been turning away hundreds of vehicles since 6 a.m. and expected it to continue, as only people deemed essential to get New Orleans back online were allowed in the city.  Even repair crews who lacked proper paper work were turned back.

"You can't fight with police," said Saxby as she stood on the side of the road with her fiancée Juan Aoboh while they plotted their next move. Saxby threw her arms up in frustration, saying she would probably seek out a hotel. 

Problem is most of St. Tammany was still closed since it was also hit by Gustav's force, so Saxby might be forced to drive back many miles to find a room to rent.  St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis went on WWL-Radio, pleading with people not to come to his parish, saying that there were no services and no electricity.

The $100-a-night hotel room Saxby was staying at in Pensacola had stretched her pocketbook and sent her towards to New Orleans, she said.  But also, like the hundreds of others, she had to simply get home "because I miss my house."

However, in the city where there is widespread electrical outage, hardly any services to speak of, a handful of hospitals running limited crews and a dusk-to-dawn curfew, a gnawing hunger is felt by many like Saxby who need to get home.

Aoboh, who had driven in a separate truck when they had evacuated, said he was going to find a way in.  "I'm going to keep going east and look for another way in."

A dangerous reaction to the denials by State Police was some residents said that if another hurricane comes to the metro area they're not leaving, even though there are three months left in hurricane season and there are three tropical storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine   lined up in single-file in the Atlantic Ocean.

"Next time another storm comes, like Katrina, I'm not going to leave," said Saxby.