Such were the scenes of Houston on Wednesday, as the sun appeared at last — the first sign of blue sky in nearly a week — and as some in the city began to come out of their homes to see what was left. The images were a study in contrast in this vast city: of neighborhoods moving on and of others doing anything but that.

“It’s a re-emerging city,” said Kim Wisner, 60, who walked two dogs through downtown, where a growing number of delivery trucks and utility workers were making their way through vacant streets. “You can see for the first time today, people getting back to their lives, everything starting up again. But it’s a reminder that not everyone gets to move on.”

Outside downtown hotels where some residents had gone after fleeing their homes, people carrying plastic bags — of clothing, stuffed animals and electronic devices — waited for cabs to take them home. A bicyclist rode along in full training gear. People walked dogs.

Around the city, some shops reopened with small crews — with whatever employees could get to work. People searched for gas stations that were reopening, some carrying plastic containers to take gas back to cars that had run out in distant spots. In one neighborhood, a giant stream of cars encircled a Chick-fil-A that had enough workers and food to open the drive-through. Children, many of them kept inside since Thursday, climbed over mud puddles to return to Donovan Park, a playground that was packed by midday.

Sylvester Turner, the mayor, said he was pressing for Houston to return to normal as quickly as possible. Trash is piling up; it has not been picked up since the storm. And business has also come to a standstill. City Hall and an annex were closed on Wednesday, but for a crowd of utility workers trying to repair submerged electrical circuitry and pump out water.