Hurricane Rita’s Aftermath

A FAMILY TRAGEDY: Police remove bodies from the Pine Club apartments in Beaumont, Texas. The victims were poisoned by carbon monoxide emanating from a gas generator that was used indoors to operate a table fan.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD: Romeo Mamolo walks along the center of a flooded street in Barataria, La. Floodwaters in the wake of Hurricane Rita came up to the porch of his trailer, but did not get inside.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Hurricane relief volunteer Dylan Toombs of Edmond, Okla., looks inside a debris-littered Sabine Pass home for victims of Hurricane Rita.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A street signal hangs over the South Gulfport Highway in Port Arthur as Gulf Coast residents began returning to their homes Sunday.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Shoes dry on a picket fence in front of the Cabrera family home in Port Arthur.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Port Arthur city workers clear fallen trees off a main artery Sunday.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Edmond, Okla., firefighter Brock Terrell paints an ID after inspecting a Sabine Pass home looking for victims of Hurricane Rita.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Xavier Fox, 18, rides his bike past a utility truck stuck on a muddy road in his Port Arthur neighborhood.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A portrait of a sea captain hangs on a wall inside the Boot Scoot Bar in Sabine Pass where Amos Dondee, 76, rode out Hurricane Rita alone in the town as all of the other residents had evacuated.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Hurricane relief volunteer Dylan Toombs of Edmond, Okla., picks up a fiberglass marlin from a Sabine Pass street.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Anderson Pollution Control Company workers remove oil-absorbent booms set to control an oil spill at the Valero Port Arthur Refinery.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A boat is washed ashore on South Gulfport Highway in Sabine Pass Sunday afternoon.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A Texas State Trooper checks motorists’ identification cards on Hwy. 69 near Port Arthur as Gulf Coast residents began returning to their homes Sunday.  (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries officers Todd Baker, left, and Joseph Moreau talk with Forked Island residents Brian and Chris Hollier. The Holliers spent the previous night helping to rescue their neighbors.  (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Tree trimmer trucks drive through Forked Island, La., as companies work to restore power.  (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

The Touchet-Straing family of Meaux, La., arrives at a shelter in Maurice, a neighboring community 11 miles north of the evacuation zone, after several days without electricity at their flood isolated home. 139 people evacuated to this small shelter in the local elementary school.  (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Forked Island resident Wilson Hollier, 69, is unfazed by the flooding around his home.  (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

For residents of Forked Island, the only way to get home is by boat. Roads in the community south of Lafayette are still covered with floodwaters.  (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Melina Verdin, 15, and her friend Natalie Billiot, 15, play in a flooded field next to Verdin’s home in the town of Grand Boys, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Chris Verdin, 18, rests on the porch of his sister’s home as flood waters lap at the porch in the town of Grand Boys, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Ryan Naquin tows his wife, Anne Marie Naquin, and friends Christina Bernard and Matt Adams from his parents home surrounded by flood waters in Larose, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Manager Carla Lewis works the register along with general manager Gordon Gartman at the EZ Mart in the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers Sunday morning.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

A flooded part of Highway 24 in Larose, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Allison Rodriguez and her cousin Justin Verdin peer over a fence in a flooded field close to their home in the town of Grand Boys, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Trent Naquin, his mother, Gail; brother Ryan; friend Matt Adams; and father, Alvin; at his parents’ home in Larose, La.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Carol Rodriguez crosses floodwaters surrounding her home in the town of Grand Boys, La., Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Buster Naquin, 62, visits friend Ruth Verdin and sister Carol Rodriguez at Rodriguez’s home in the town of Grand Boys, La., Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Natalie Billiot, 15, Melena Verdin, 15, holding niece Mallory Verdin, Kyle Friloux, 17, and David Billiot, 19, converse in front of Verdin’s family home in the town of Grand Boys, La., Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Christina Bernard gets a hand from Ryan Naquin after visiting his parents’ home in Larose, La., Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Hurricane evacuees Franklin Proenza, 13, left, and Brandon Molina, 6, of Port Arthur eat breakfast by candlelight at a shelter at First Christian Church in Lufkin, Texas.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Melinda Verdin, 15, carries her niece Alexis Verdin, 4, through a flooded field on the way to her home in the town of Grand Boys, La., Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / LAT)

In Hackberry, La., Roger Thibodeaux, 43, points to where a friend’s house was destroyed when Hurricane Rita came through the area.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Water flows over the road blocking access to the town on Hackberry, La. which was devastated by Hurricane Rita.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Mike Daigle, 52, throws away food in his refrigerator after arriving at his house by boat. The house was damaged but not beyond repair like some of his neighbors’ homes.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

A tire swing remains undisturbed amid the destruction left behind by Hurricane Rita.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Mike Daigle, 52, uses a paddle to check the depth of the water as he steers his boat down Choupain Rd. after he skirted law enforcement officials to get a look at his home.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

A tattered American flag still flies over the devastated town of Hackberry, La.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Aaron Norvell cleans glasses at Smith & Wollensky restaurant in Houston, where employees are working hard to reopen by Sunday night.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Megan Williams cleans windows at Smith & Wollensky, which was closed for several days during the hurricane.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Shoppers flock to a reopened grocery store in Houston, where life gradually returned to normal Sunday.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Johnnie Moore fills his tank at a reopened gas station in Houston.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Traffic moves slowly but steadily in the southbound lanes of Interstate 45 as evacuees return home to Houston and surrounding areas on Sunday.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Despite some bottlenecks, the anticipated gridlock of returning evacuees to Houston was not seen Sunday. Traffic on the freeway downtown moved swiftly.  (Luis Sinco / LAT)