Many residents returning to their homes in southern Louisiana after Hurricane Isaac will find little comfort. Throughout the state, at least 13,000 homes were damaged, Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Tuesday. She stressed the figure is a preliminary estimate, and that officials expect the number will rise as they gain access to some of the hardest-hit areas. St. John the Baptist Parish, west of New Orleans, suffered extensive flooding after Isaac struck the northern Gulf Coast last week. Thousands of residents were driven from their homes when the storm forced water over the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.