Cots are clearing at Meridian shelters as some evacuees are making their way back home.

"I want to go home," said Laquisha Brooks of Gulfport, Miss. "I'm just ready to go home. I'm frustrated, tired. I'm just going to a chance and see what roads I can get back on."

Brooks said she and her family of nine are taking a chance of leaving, even though many parts of the Mississippi coast are flooded.

"I think it will be O.K. I got faith that everything is O.K," Brooks said.

"I have a shed torn apart and I got stuff all over the yard and 14 trees knocked down," said Gessica Hays of Houma, La.

Hays said she was told her neighborhood suffered some damage but her trailer is still standing.

"I'm one of the lucky trailers in the trailer park, and that's good," Hays said. "But I'm just worried about everybody else that's down there."

And that's the case for many of the people at the Frank Cochran Center shelter in Meridian as they sat glued to the TV sets, watching and listening for updates and information regarding when they can return home.

A New Orleans family of 16 is staying put until further word on when it's safe to return. After going through the misery Katrina, they say they're not taking a chance.

"Not ever again. I mean, if we would have lost everything this time there was no going back," said Toni Duplessis of New Orleans. "You know, what could we go back to?"

And numbers are remaining steady at the Neshoba County Coliseum where officials report about 600 evacuees.

The Red Cross says as long as there is a need, doors will remain open. But for many of these evacuees, they hope they can return home very soon.