Rescue Baskets News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> i'm like so relieved now. you don't know. we're on dry land, ain't walking in water. >> reporter: but singleton's mother like so many others is still stranded, desperate for help. >> my mom is still stuck in her house, please, somebody go get my momma out of there. she's old and can't move around like that. >> reporter: even for the lucky, safety almost seemed out of reach, whipping winds tossed rescue baskets. jaketa clung to 6-year-old bella, they thought the worst had already passed. >> we were watching houston go through it and to go through it yourself, life can change in a minute. >> ...

It's a very loose and still kind of dangerous situation around here. not only law enforcementwise, but also with the water levels. >> brian, as you were speaking there, a few moments ago we saw a u.s. navy chopper pick up a family in need in one of those rescue baskets, including a baby, a toddler. that baby, that toddler, the mother there, some other adults have been taken to dry land, and that crew thanking them. you can see them there being thanked. they're going to hop right back in that helicopter and go look for more. i'm also -- it looks like the little one wants to get another ride the...

Captain and the engineer will need to cross the boat from the wheelhouse to the bow. >> from our point of view they got about halfway across. we saw the captain slip, go down on his knees and a huge mound of ice just came across the deck and swept them overboard. >> oh, no! >> the two men are flung into 28-degree water. the tide pulls them dangerously close to the monarch. it looks like they'll be crushed by their own ship. now they're at the mercy of mother nature. >> waves come in sets, so not only were they hammered by that one wave that washed them over, there were about three others that ...

Something you don't ever expect to see. >> reporter: rescue swimmer kirk peterson was aboard the first coast guard helicopter sent to the scene. and on the way, reports grew more dire by the minute. >> started progressing to a rig explosion, a rig on fire. 160 people in the water with injuries and it kept growing and growing and growing. >> reporter: as they circled the blazing deepwater horizon, it was immediately apparent, peterson says, they were flying into a full-blown catastrophe. with the chopper running low on fuel, the 39-year-old father of two was hoisted down on to the nearby supply...

Peterson was aboard the first coast guard helicopter sent to the scene. and on the way, reports grew more dire by the minute. >> started progressing to a rig explosion, a rig on fire. 160 people in the water with injuries and it kept growing and growing and growing. >> reporter: as they circled the blazing deepwater horizon, it was immediately apparent, peterson says, they were flying into a full-blown catastrophe. with the chopper running low on fuel, the 39-year-old father of two was hoisted down on to the nearby supply ship that had now become, by necessity, a hospital. hundreds of people w...