TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) – Some residents who have been kept away from their homes for several days as officials kept a wary eye on a storm-weakened dam were being allowed to return on Thursday night as water levels dropped and confidence in the dam’s safety grew.

Mayor Robert G. Nunes said pumping that began earlier Thursday – as well as drier weather – has reduced pressure on the Whittenton Pond Dam, and eased concerns about allowing some residents to return.

Still, hundreds of people whose homes were nearest to the dam were asked to stay away.

“We feel very comfortable with the decision we’ve made. We are seeing tremendous progress,” Nunes said.

Nunes said the city would remain under a state of emergency, and engineers would be on standby until it is lifted.

The decision to allow about half of the 2,000 residents who were evacuated earlier in the week to return came amid concern that more rain over the weekend would complicate an already precarious situation.

However, several pumps began removing water Thursday – releasing pressure on the 173-year-old dam. With lower water levels, officials hoped to have time to examine the dam more closely and make some initial repairs before the weekend’s expected heavy rains.

For days, Taunton officials and residents were on pins and needles, fearing that another storm could overwhelm the dam and send a 6-foot wall of water surging through the downtown, about a half-mile downstream.

Most downtown streets – which had been deserted for days since the evacuation order was issued when the dam buckled and began breaking apart – reopened after 9 p.m.

There was a steady stream of cars, but the scene was relatively quiet. Most businesses there are not usually open at night.

“This is the most cars I’ve seen in a couple of days,” said Robert Bury, 38, with his girlfriend, Tina Souza, walking their dog. The couple did not evacuate their apartment on a nearby street that remains closed.

Souza said it’s been “like a ghost town. Nothing open, nobody around.”

The congregation of the World Revival Church, Assembly of God, held its regular Thursday night service after being allowed to return to the church, and people lingered to chat afterward.

“We’re not scared. I know they were in control,” pastor Robson Rodriguez said of city officials.

Buses were being provided to those able to leave a shelter at Taunton High School and the city was setting up a hotline for others needing transportation.

Thomas Shaughnessy, 25, headed home from the high school Thursday night with his girlfriend and their cat, Apple, but he wasn’t convinced they’re completely safe.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m scared,” he said.

Among those staying at the shelter was Rashid Kpabitey, 34, whose apartment is still in the evacuation zone.

“I wanted to go home, but if staying here is going to make me safe, I would rather be here,” he said.

The water upstream from the dam in Lake Sabbatia had dropped about 18 inches since Monday and was expected to recede much more rapidly with the pumping. The pumping began Thursday afternoon, with the water being piped around the dam and returned to the river downstream.

The five pumps, once fully operational, are able to move about 30,000 gallons of water per minute – 10 percent more than the normal flow over the dam.

Officials hope the initial repairs can convert it to an “automatic release” dam – in which water rolls over the top like a waterfall. Currently, the flow is regulated by gates that open to let water through, but that puts more pressure on the structure.

“We are mitigating the danger we have now and also doing it in anticipation of the rain we are going to get this weekend,” said Fire Chief Joseph Rose said.

Forecasters said it was too soon to tell whether powerful Hurricane Wilma, now off the eastern coast of Mexico, would affect New England. But a smaller weather system now moving across the plains is likely to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain on the region, starting Saturday night.

Taunton, a working-class city of about 50,000 about 40 miles south of Boston, saw more than 7 inches of rain last weekend, bringing the monthly total to more than 11 inches and pushing the Mill River to near-flood levels.