especially supply vendors who are getting jackhammered by rising inflation, especially the cost of gas. i remember when gas was $2.50 a gallon. it s kind of like hard to fill up your tank for just $40 now. today at ramstein we ve been watching service members put together these pallets. 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles of infant formula. i m pamela brown in washington. you are in the cnn newsroom. and we are following several major stories for you this hour on the saturday night. happening now, two u.s. military planes are set to leave germany in the next few hours loaded with supplies to help ease america s baby formula crisis. and then extreme weather across america. residents in michigan are picking up the pieces after a devastating tornado while more than half the country bakes in record heat. also tonight, tiger woods has just dropped out of the pga championship following his worst ever score at the tournament. and a group of social media big hitters have a messag
press to win over voters ahead of tuesday s primary. we have the latest on the race there. and cooler temperatures moving in after a wave of record highs. what to expect as we close out the weekend. we re thrilled that you re starting your week with us. it is sunday, may 22nd, amara, great to be with you. it has been great to be with you this weekend. we begin with operation fly formula. the response to a nationwide shortage of infant formula right here in the u.s. the first military flight carrying an emergency baby formula shipment from overseas is headed to the united states right now. the master sergeant overseeing the shipment told his staff, we re literally saving babies. meantime, the ceo of a formula manufacturer is apologizing to, quote, every family we have let down. for weeks parents have been scrambling to find formula to feed their babies. cnn correspondent polo sandoval joining us live now from indianapolis where the formula shipment is headed. hey the
cnn s polo sand vol is live for us. this is the first of what s expected to be many formula flights. it is. and it s more important now that the formula went through those paces. the inspection, and the quality control process that all of those imports go through. the only difference is what usually takes place in weeks was only done in about 72 hours. that s with multiple different agencies involved. u.s. transport command, for example, one of the key agencies in trying to get that baby for for formula germany to the u.s. this is important. this particular formula, it is a prescription product that is high poe allergenic. it basically is meant to go to the hardest hit of the hard hit families that have been desperately trying to find the formula they need for their children. this specific formula will go directly to hospitals, and to home health care facilities. so that s important to note. this is not formula that will be going to the store shelves, for example. however,
you are live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. we begin with a small sign of relief from the baby formula crisis that is gripping the nation. today a u.s. military flight carrying more than 70,000 pounds of baby formula arrived in indianapolis from europe, but you won t see it on store shelves here in the u.s. a white house official says the first shipment is heading straight to doctors, hospitals, home health care facilities and pharmacies in areas that need it the most. this means for many parents who have been desperately searching for weeks now to find formula they ll have to keep searching. the shipment arrived just hours ago. what more can you tell us about this formula, where it s going, how many toddlers it s expected to feed? i guess there will be some parents out there disappointed this formula is not going directly to a store near them. reporter: and that s important, too, jim. you can find out where this is not going to your neighborhood groce
that is heading to hospitals in the hardist hit areas. while it s a critical first step, it also means thousands of parents have to wait a few more days for relief. because of the actions we re taking right now we re going to see more formula coming off factory lines. when? and more formula in stores starting as early as this week. let s go straight to mj lee in tokyo covering the president s visit. have they given any indication how many more of these shipments we might see in the coming days? parents are, i m sure, happy to hear about formula going to hospitals and health care facilities and that sort of thing, but they want to nope when the formula is hitting the store shelves? reporter: yeah that is such an urgent question, jim, and what you might remember is through operation fly formula, this is the operation that the government launched urgently to get more formula to the u.s., the u.s. has secured some 1.5 million bottles worth of this specialty formula and