HOUSTON , Texas ( CNN ) -- 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 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 rescue impossible , '' the Coast Guard said in a statement issued Friday . First Lt. Lauren Johnson , an Air Force spokeswoman , confirmed the report . Aircraft were used in the effort , a spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard said . Coast Guard officials had said earlier they thought the best way to help the 584-foot freighter might be to let the storm push it to shallow water where it can drop anchor . Watch the captain of the freighter talk with CNN » . The freighter had been headed south from Port Arthur , Texas , and is loaded with petroleum coke -- a petroleum byproduct . The Coast Guard said in a news release it received a distress call around 4 a.m. from the Antalina , a Cypriot-flagged freighter . It said the vessel had `` lost main propulsion 90 miles southeast of Galveston '' and was unable to steer . Coast Guard Capt . Bill Diehl said the freighter had been `` in the direct line of the path of the storm and lost its engines . '' He said the Coast Guard is keeping radio communications with the freighter , and its news release said the Coast Guard is in hourly contact with the crew . There had been warnings for residents to evacuate beforehand , and Chief Petty Officer Michael O'Berry , interviewed by CNN , was asked why they did n't get out in time . Watch last-minute evacuees explain their change of heart » . He said he thinks the residents `` did n't understand , I guess , the strength of the storm . As it came about , they realized it 's a lot stronger than they may have anticipated . '' CNN 's Mike Ahlers , Jeanne Meserve and Barbara Starr contributed to this report .
Southeast : Coast Guard helicopters airlift stranded residents from Galveston area . Southwest : Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on coastal roads . Coast Guard , Air Force unable to rescue 22 people stranded on freighter . Active - duty military has 42 search - and - rescue helicopters on standby .