BOLIVAR, Texas -- Terrie Robbins expected to find storm damage when she returned to her Bolivar Peninsula home Friday for the first time since fleeing Hurricane Ike.

She just didn't expect to find her home more than 500 feet from its concrete foundation, dumped next to a bar across the main highway that runs through the peninsula.

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Bolivar Residents See Destruction Up Close: Mary Benton Reports

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Yet, she said she was lucky because her parents, who live two streets away, weren't able to locate their home.

"We survived (Hurricanes) Carla and Alicia. Just not Ike. Ike was more powerful," said Robbins' sister, Kellie Collins, 34. "We're still rich in other things -- our health, life, children, memories. That's something Ike could not take away."

Robbins, 49, and other Bolivar residents crowded onto the only roadway into the peninsula on Friday. They were allowed to check out the massive wreckage left behind after Hurricane Ike roared through this thin strip of land along the Gulf of Mexico. While most residents fled before Ike arrived, a small group stayed.

The peninsula's 4,000 or so residents are being allowed back on a "look and leave" policy. Officials say the area is not safe to live in because of a lack of water and utilities as well as dangers from snakes and alligators.

The bridge at Rollover Pass was severely damaged during the hurricane. One lane of it was repaired enough to allow vehicles to travel over it at 10 mph. The bridge is open from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Traffic was congested and the waits were long to go over the bridge.

"It's important to remember that the only approach to the peninsula will be via Highway 124 from Winnie as the ferries are still closed," said Maj. Ray Tuttollmondo of the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.

There is no water, sewer, power or gas on the peninsula. There are also no medical services.

The peninsula just northeast of Galveston was among the hardest-hit areas when Ike blasted ashore Sept. 13, with 110 mph winds and a storm surge that swept away homes and businesses.

It was slow going at times Friday on the only road leading onto Bolivar, as traffic backed up at least 5 miles and didn't move for long stretches. Just before reaching a checkpoint just off the peninsula, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials stood by the road, handing out flyers on how to apply for aid. Further down the road, tents were set up where people could get ice, water, mosquito repellent or tetanus shots.

The return to Bolivar by Robbins and other residents became more of a scavenger hunt as many found their homes had been wiped away and they were forced to scour nearby fields, dig through sandy beaches and rummage through rubble to rescue what personal belongings they had left.

Kevin McKnight, 48, who lives across the street from Robbins, managed to find underneath trees, mud and other debris that sat where his house once stood some of his antique collectibles, including photographs and clocks, as well as a drum set and a motorcycle.

"I'm in a state of denial," said McKnight, who owns a Crystal Beach grocery store that was also destroyed. "That's what it is right now, one day at a time. I just have to knock it out."

Just east of Crystal Beach, in the small town of Gilchrist, Raymond and Lola Rice joined neighbors in a field across the street from their vacation beach houses. The storm surge from Ike had reduced their homes to concrete slabs and splintered wooden beams and had washed away many of their belongings, including plates, VCRs and toilets, onto the field.

"When we bought it, we knew this could happen," Lola Rice said of her home, which she and her husband bought in 1969. "But you thank the Lord for the time you had."

But somehow amid this devastation, Warren and Pam Adams' bright yellow home survived. It was the only house along the beach in Gilchrist left standing.

Warren Adams credited his home's survival to several reasons: it was built higher off the ground than surrounding houses and its foundation was made with reinforced concrete. Also, the house, completed last year, was built to new hurricane building codes.

But Pam Adams still felt a sense of guilt that her home survived and those of her neighbors didn't

"It is just devastating. I feel so sorry for all these people," she said. While their home remains standing, the first floor garage was wiped away, the wooden staircase to the second floor was knocked out and the home's interior suffered water and mud damage.

Warren Adams said he planned to repair and rebuild his home. But like many other Bolivar Peninsula residents who also planned to do the same, he worried whether his home could be seized by the state because Ike eroded the beach so badly that it might now sit on public property.

Jim Vondra, 63, whose beachfront home in Crystal Beach was destroyed, said he plans to rebuild and if the state decides to claim his land because of erosion, he is not going to give it up without a fight.

"We've got plenty of lawyers," he said. "We are going to go after them."

The Bolivar Peninsula's population more than doubles during the summer months with the arrival of tourists and beach home owners. The peninsula stretches 27 miles along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is bounded on one side by Galveston Bay and on the other by the Gulf of Mexico.

The peninsula, named for SimÄon BolÄévar, the South American revolutionary hero, is about 3 miles at its widest point and about one-fourth of a mile at its narrowest. Its five residential communities are Crystal Beach, Port Bolivar, Caplen, Gilchrist and High Island.

Ike has been blamed for at least 64 deaths, including 29 in Texas. More than 1 million people evacuated the Texas coast.