the coast , said Coast Guard Petty Officer David Schulein . Three HH-65C helicopters from Coast Guard Air Station Houston rescued more than 20 people and were continuing to fly round-the-clock rescue missions until weather grounds them , said Petty Officer Renee Aiello , a station spokeswoman . The Coast Guard helicopters from Air Station Houston could make their last flights Friday afternoon as rain starts to move in , Aiello said . Watch Ike begin to spill water into Texas '' `` We 'll be out as long as the weather permits us , '' she said . `` We 're still working . '' Some 37,000 people may need to be rescued after Hurricane Ike strikes , a U.S. military official said Friday . Texas already has asked for help , and the active-duty military has 42 search-and-rescue helicopters on standby , the official said . iReport.com : Commander briefs Coast Guard crews Meanwhile , the Coast Guard and Air Force were unable to rescue 22 people aboard a freighter adrift in the Gulf of Mexico because of weather , the two military branches said Friday . `` Weather on scene deteriorated to a point that made the
HOUSTON , Texas -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Even with Hurricane Ike more than 100 miles away , authorities began rescue efforts Friday , picking up more than 120 people stranded by rising seas along the southeast Texas coast . The U.S. Coast Guard rescues a person trapped in a car on Friday as Hurricane Ike hits Texas . Most of the rescues occurred in Galveston County , where rising water and other effects of the storm began hours before expected landfall early Saturday . Stranded residents have been airlifted from Crystal Beach , Bolivar Peninsula and other communities in the Galveston area . Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on flooded roads . In Surfside Beach , police waded through chest-high rushing water to rescue five people trapped in their homes . One man refused to leave , said Surfside Beach police Chief Randy Smith . Watch rescuers save a motorist from floods '' `` Some of them took convincing , some of them did n't , '' he said . Police also rescued another five people who waded out to meet the officers . About half of those rescues were done by helicopters out of several bases along