airport closures, the ripple effect now, and this hurricane now headed inland. headed straight for orlando before then tracking north. alerts at this hour up across florida, georgia, and now the carolinas. our meteorologists ginger zee and rob marciano on the ground tonight with our team across florida. also, the acting deputy director of noaa s national hurricane center right here with us tonight. what concerns him most as we head into the evening hours. the other major news this wednesday night, the u.s. state department now urging americans to leave russia immediately. the american embassy warning russians may force americans with dual citizenship into military service. and the allegations involving russian sabotage into the pipeline that would deliver russian natural gas into europe. ian pannell inside ukraine tonight. in this country, the major news tonight on alzheimer s. a potential breakthrough. a promising new drug and what it s shown so far. also tonight, poli
Announcing a $1 billion package of weapons and equipment for ukraine. the administration also adding its voice to growing accusations that the leaks that appeared in two gas pipelines under the baltic sea were apparent sabotage. david, the administration calling this annexation move outrageous and fraudulent. this new aid package they ve announced includes 18 new himars rocket systems. remember, those are the american-made weapons that have already made such a big difference on the battlefield here. david? all right, ian pannell in kyiv fors again tonight. ian, thank you. back to the news here at home and to the promising news tonight in the fight against alzheimer s. a new drug showing encouraging results. makers of the drug said it recused cognitive decline by 27%. 1,800 patients in early stages of alzheimer s receiving injections of the drug. it starts plaques accumulating in the brain. the fda already looking into this new drug and could authorize its use by january. we ll stay
Not reopen until at least friday around noon, with one exception, of course, if there s damage. it s going to take a lot longer. and we ll have to wait until the storm moves through to find that out. without a doubt, these closures will impact travel across this country, not just here in florida, for days, david. gio benitez with us, thank you. as we said, they re now preparing inner l orlando. let s go to janai norman. i know a lot of people headed inland and many headed to orlando to seek cover and now ian is headed your way. reporter: that s exactly it, david. we saw those images of cars jamming onto roadways as residents fled southwest florida to try to escape hurricane ian, but now, and forgive me, there s a siren, now with that rain and more rain and wind expected to move through central florida, many of those people who evacuated are now forced to h hunker down and ride out the storm here in orlando. i spoke to them here in our hotel, many of them with pets,
Never seen the light of day, and at the same time, these huge swells on a normally calm bay, with big white caps smashing into that jetty, which protects the airport. so you got water that s exiting, and water that s piling up, and the power of the wind and water combined is relentless. landfall coming after hours of intense wind. as as ian came closer, our ginger zee in fort myers, broadcasting live in the eyewall. we are in the eye wall of hurricane ian. you can see almost knock behind me, but if you could, the eye is only about five miles to my west. look at what s happening right here. we finally saw the wind start to shift. and we ve got the surge starting to take over the pool here at our hotel. if you look a little further, there was a dock. there s a little house at the end of that dock that has been surrounded by the water. surge here anticipated anywhere from 12 to even 18 feet.
Hurricane ian now moving inland towards orlando. then, ginger, there are the emergency calls to come. reporter: as we go into hour five of storm surge and intense winds here in fort myers, what i m most worried about, david, is this storm is not yet done. right out my window, that surge that i was showing you, the home gone, the pool barely visible. it s gone down a little. this is a long time for first responders to have to wait to get to people that inevitably need their help. david? no question. that s the next wave. we ll have much more on gma first thing in the morning and i ll see you tomorrow now from ag