Story highlights Van carrying Ric Saldivar's parents and their four great-grandchildren sinks in bayou

Saldivar says his brother, the driver, escaped and clung to a branch as van sank

(CNN) As his brother tells it, Sammy Saldivar tried his best to maneuver around Harvey's floodwaters.

Sammy packed his elderly parents and their four great-grandchildren into a van as water rose around their northeast Houston home on Sunday.

He wanted to turn around as he approached a waterlogged bridge over Greens Bayou. But his father yelled at him to keep going, his brother, Ric Saldivar, said. Even at 84, patriarch Manuel Saldivar was still demanding. The way they were raised, "Dad tells you to do something, you do it," Ric Saldivar said.

Belia and Manuel Saldivar

Sammy made it across the bridge only to encounter a dip in the road on the other side, Ric Saldivar said, recalling what his brother told him. Sammy lost control and the van went nose-first into the bayou with his parents and the four children, ages 6 to 16, trapped inside.

Sammy managed to wriggle out of his seat belt and through the driver's side window. He made his way to a branch in the rushing water and held on for his life.

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