HENRY, La. -- Hurricane Ike's floodwaters inundated south Louisiana just as Hurricane Rita's did three years ago, but residents who built homes on stilts in this community returned home Monday to find little or no damage from the powerful storm surge.

Category 2 Ike's floodwaters surged even farther inland in some spots than those from Rita, a stronger Category 3 storm, in 2005. But while single-story homes were swamped, others that were elevated on stilts or on masses of earth withstood the storm -- though they remain vulnerable to strong hurricane winds.

"Water ain't going to get me again. Next time the roof might get blown off, though," said Kiefferd Gayneaux, owner of a home on 10-foot stilts in the tiny town of Henry, where houses at ground level filled up with four to five feet of water in both hurricanes.

Floodwaters and storm debris kept much of coastal Louisiana off-limits to thousands of other evacuees, and state Wildlife and Fisheries agents continued their search-and-rescue operations for people needing to be taken to dry land. The National Guard and other crews continued clearing roads, trying to get the region livable again.

Most of Louisiana's 250-mile coast was flooded by Ike, and hundreds had been rescued since Friday. About 93,000 homes were still without power, taking a toll on some residents who stayed behind as the storm struck Saturday.

In addition to 13,000 homes and businesses flooded in Terrebonne Parish, a total of 8,550 structures were damaged by Ike in Cameron, Calcasieu, St. Mary, Vermilion and Jefferson parishes, state officials reported Monday.

The water began returning to the Gulf of Mexico, and meteorologists credited winds from the north.

"We are getting a cold front pushing down with north winds, which is exactly what we need," said Tim Destri, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Slidell.

Gov. Bobby Jindal spent the day touring damaged areas.

"I have no doubt we are going to bounce back better and stronger than we were before these two storms," Jindal said at a news conference in Baton Rouge.

Cameron Parish officials expect the water will recede from the parish within two days, he said. At least a handful of rescues continued Monday in the parish, the governor said, but most search and rescue efforts were wrapped up.

"People are already beginning to clean up," he said.

Ann Williamson, Jindal's cabinet secretary in charge of hurricane shelters, resigned amid heavy criticism from the governor about her handling of Hurricane Gustav. About 100 Ike evacuees from Texas are housed in a state-run shelter in Shreveport, and evacuees are continuing to arrive, officials said.

Vermilion Parish had some of the worst damage from Ike, with some 2,000 homes flooded, and 25 percent of electric customers remained without power Monday. The storm left a pattern of water marks on homes similar to those left behind by Rita in 2005. Crops were ruined, as were homes and businesses in Abbeville, Erath, Delcambe and Henry.

"It's essentially the same flooding, the same footprint, as Rita," said Rebecca Broussard, the parish's emergency chief.

In Henry, the floodwaters erupted from bayous swollen with water from the Gulf, blasting through a boat landing, the fire station, elementary school, and homes that weren't elevated.

Gayneaux, who put his house on stilts after Rita, only found damage to possessions he kept in a ground-floor garage and storage shed. He spent Monday hauling a treadmill, bicycle, refrigerator and furniture to the street, for debris crews to take away.

Oray Huval had no floodwater in the home he elevated to 13 feet above sea level when he bought it 10 years ago.

A mile away, his 83-year-old mother's single-story house -- on ground level -- was swamped with about five feet of water, ruining virtually all her possessions.

"She's got her heart set on rebuilding the way it was, but we're going to try to talk her out of it," said Huval, standing near a pile of his mother's ruined mattresses and furniture.

Gayneaux said he planned to demolish the brick home he owns next door -- his son's home -- which sits on the ground and would otherwise have to be gutted. He said he spent too much money rebuilding it after it was flooded in Hurricane Rita, in 2005.

"I ain't spending another $150,000," he said. "I ain't no fool."

The floodwater also killed crops. Sonny Moss, who grows rice and breeds crawfish, said the crawfish he was growing on his 700 acres of land were all dead.

"Saltwater ruins everything," he said. "Saltwater will kill them all."