Cleanup begins in Brevard Co. after historic flooding

We have a lot coming up for you in the next couple of minutes, but first I want to throw things out to the alert center where Fox 35 anchor Amy Caulfield is here to give us some of our top stories. Amy, how are you doing out there in the newsroom? Good. Okay. First of all, I'm really excited to hang out with you today, Hayden. It's our first time. So, so happy to be here. And gosh, yes, we do have a lot to talk about as we always do. So Hayden, thanks for having me. I want to start first with what's happening in Brevard County. And we had some really just incredible reporting this morning from our own Amanda Ruiz, who was going, really just home to home, specifically in Palm Bay, and talking to these homeowners who have lost Everything. And so just absolutely heartbreaking to see what they're going through. Well, now we're finally starting to hear that we may be getting some additional help. So we talked to Mayor Rob Medina last week. You might remember he actually made a plea on our air right on Good Orlando asking for the president to please step in and approve federal funding, disaster funding for so many of these families who've lost their entirety of their homes. So now we are learning that Governor Ron DeSantis has, in fact, filed the paperwork to try to get this federal disaster declaration, not just for Brevard County, but for up to eight counties. And he left it open-ended because he wants to make sure, just in case the St. Johns River does crest and cause flood issues in Seminole County, in the Geneva area, along Lake Harney, he wants to make sure that it's open-ended, that it would eventually cover any potential issues that we might have there. So we've been talking a little bit about the flood stage. of the St. John's and how that works. And it is a possibility that we could see some flooding issues. As of right now, we're not having those issues, but it is a possibility down the line. So again, this is paperwork that has been filed by the governor. This should be getting onto the president's desk pretty quickly. And hopefully, I think for the folks in Brevard County, they're really hoping that this will pass and that they will be able to get that federal disaster declaration. But just as an example, we talked to one gentleman this morning who said that he's so So lucky that he did have FEMA flood insurance many of these homeowners did in his particular case he lives right on a canal and he was showing us when tropical storm Fay came through which was years ago. That Tropical Storm Fay, you know, where that line came up to as far as the flooding was concerned. And his house was probably, I don't know, maybe six or eight feet above where the canal was. And that water came all the way through his house. Hayden, I mean, just heartbreaking to hear these stories. And it's just one house after another. You see the dumpsters out front. Some of the homeowners are saying that they had filled up at least four dumpsters with all their belongings. I mean, it's just horrific to see. It is horrific, Amy, and you know, we've been speaking with a lot of people who have survived these floods and just the devastation that rocked its way through those counties. It's just awful to see, but hopefully those roads to recovery are short for these families. And of course, our thoughts are always with them. Yeah. Absolutely. And so many of them had positive spirits. One gentleman was telling us that he just this was his dream home that he bought. And he said they just had a housewarming party a few months ago. And he said he's going to have to have housewarming party 2.0 once he gets his house fixed up again. So again, as you mentioned, Hayden, you know, we're thinking about these folks and we will continue to follow these stories and follow the recovery stories. We won't forget about them. So we just want them to know that, you know, we are we are there with them and we will be supporting them along the way, too. I want to talk about this AI that is coming to some folks in Orange County. So now when you have a non-emergency, which we've all been there, right? You're driving along and you're like, yeah, that's not really an emergency, but there's like a mattress on the road there and I should probably call that in. And, you know, so we've made that call to this non-emergency number. Well, in the past. Someone would answer. Well now Winter Garden is going to a new system. It's called Ava and this will not just impact Winter Garden. It will also impact several other surrounding cities like Ocoee, Windermere and the town of Oakland. And so in these communities now when you call this non-emergency number, you will be able to get assisted by artificial intelligence. Ava. Ava will answer your questions, take down your information and will make sure that it gets to a live Dispatcher. So it's not going to replace the dispatchers. What Winter Garden PD is telling us is this is actually going to free up the dispatchers to focus in on emergencies. And they say if for whatever reason you are, you know, finding yourself in an emergency or you're frustrated or you're having trouble or Ava's not helping you, that you can make that request on that non-emergency line to ask to an actual dispatcher and that it will transfer you to a live person. But in the meantime, they are hoping that this is something that. That is going to free up the dispatchers so that they can really focus in on actual emergencies. We'll see. Other communities have done it. We wouldn't be the first to do it here in Central Florida. But I think everybody is a little still apprehensive about this whole AI thing. And do I really want to talk to a robot if I, you know, I don't know. We'll see how it goes. I'm glad it's not for emergencies and just for non-emergencies. You know, we just spoke with Orlando Rolon, former Orlando police chief, about this exact topic. And he was saying that he sees this as a good thing, a use of some evolving technology. I know that some people are pretty hesitant about AI. I will admit I'm one of those people. It can make mistakes, but I know some people are wondering if these changes are a result of the budget cuts that are kind of looming over the heads after Amendment 3 was passed Like Orlando Rolone said, if this is just a use of some evolving technology. Yeah. And in this particular case, you know, this was approved before Amendment 3 ever passed. But maybe, you know, people are looking down the line and seeing like, yes, well, Amendment 3 could potentially pass. Should we start to make some of these cuts and make some of these changes in anticipation of that? That's certainly a possibility. But in this particular case, yeah, they are. They're saying this is going to be a good thing and and hopefully it will be. I guess we'll have to wait and see. And I guess if it's not a good thing, they can always reverse it. down the road. But as of right now, it is going to be taking over those non-emergency calls. So we'll see. And then I want to talk about, we will, I want to talk about this Waymo story, Hayden. We've talked a lot about Waymo. We know that Waymo is in Orlando now. These are these driverless taxis that you can hop into and you can take them around. Well, they've been having some issues. We've all seen the funny stories about Waymo. You know, the stories where, you know, people get stuck in traffic and then they have to abandon the Waymo. There were some young people trying to get to a Bucks game a couple of weeks ago. You might remember that one where they had to get out of the Waymo because the Waymo got stuck and it was going the wrong way. or the Waymos that we're going around in circles in Buckhead in Atlanta, do you remember that story and the people were like oh my gosh there's like Waymos taking over my neighborhood. OK so we've all heard those stories. Well this one is pretty concerning. So some of the Waymos have been blowing past the stopped school bus stop signs. And so now the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration is saying, listen, Waymo, you have got to fix this. So Waymo came out in the last couple of days and they said, we have figured it out. We have put in like a fix to this. They're saying they did their own investigation as well. The recall query began last Friday to determine whether or not this Waymo update would in fact work. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says we're not sure that this is actually working. And so this is a defect perhaps in the system that Waymo is trying to figure out. Waymo is saying safety is central to our mission and operating safely around school buses is a responsibility that we take very seriously. So the company says that they've received no citations about this since March of this year. But they said they understand that NHTSA is very concerned and that they're working on this. They have opened up a probe looking into this incident where Waymo, where RoboTax actually hit a child. That happened in Santa Monica back in January. Thank you very much. And then, so they're basically trying to figure out, is this a fixed problem? Is it not a fixed problem? The problem, Hayden, as you know, is the only way to know if it's really fixed is to put these vehicles back out on the road. And do you take the risk that, you know, it's still going to blow through one of these stop signs? Absolutely. I guess we'll see. I'm not sure. Amy, I've seen these Waymo vehicles around Orlando, but I've never seen one without someone behind the wheel. So in a way, I don't know if I believe that they're self-driving, but I have seen the videos from other cities. So just an interesting vehicle there. It is. Would you ride in one? You haven't tried it yet, obviously. I have not. I don't know how I feel about it, especially with all of these issues. I don't know. I need to know that someone is controlling in real time and can react to some of the crazy things that happen on our Orlando roads. So maybe I'll hold off for a bit. I'm not sure. I'm with you. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm just going to wait. I'm going to let other people work out the kinks. And once the kinks are all worked out and we've seen a long streak of success, then maybe I'll try it. Okay. All right, you want to talk about the football playoffs? Yes, I do. I heard you're passionate about this. I'm very passionate about this. And when this news broke yesterday, I was not happy. This is crazy. We had Brendan Kravitz on earlier this morning from 96.9 The Game. He's also not happy. He is not a fan, Hayden. A lot of people are super angry about this. And I think part of the anger is that people are upset that they feel like the fans have been discounted in this methodology. That the fans, basically what our opinions are, don't matter. So let's walk through a little bit about some of the changes here. So now this is an expanded 23-game tournament, which will introduce some major changes to both the selection, the home field advantage, the regular season calendar. So all of this is going to factor into whether or not you make the playoffs or not, okay? So five automatic bids will go to the champions of the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, and the SEC, plus the highest ranked And then the remaining 19 spots will go to the highest ranked at large teams that are chosen by the college football playoff selection committee. All right, so now there's going to be a bracket structure. So we're seeing a little bit of this already. The top eight seeds will receive a first round bye. The seeds nine through 24 will compete in the opening round. And then there's going to be two rounds of campus games. And then you have the end of the Power Four title games. So following this announcement, so the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, the Big 12, all have now moved to eliminate their conference championship games, and that will start next year. That really made a lot of people mad. Me too. Yes. Yes, because these are big games, as you know, and you're a football fan like me. People look forward to these conference championship games, so now those are going to go away starting next year. That's a big deal. The Power Four teams, here's the other thing, Hayden. to play at least 10 regular season games against fellow Power Four opponents or I love that they specifically say or Notre Dame. Right. OK. So the committee is also going to disregard wins against more than one FCS opponent per season. So now we're getting back into the strength of schedule thing. So no more just stacking your season with these cupcake games and saying well we are undefeated. But and then they said well you didn't play anybody. Right. So you can't do You can't do that anymore. You got to play at least four Power Fours. I kind of went through to look at the pros and cons of this, okay? So I'm going to walk you through some of the pros and cons. So here's some of the pros. So some of the pros would be more on-campus playoff atmosphere games, okay? So you're going to move from four campus games in the 12-team era to 16 campus games across the first two rounds. So that would, you know, be more fun for the fans, supposedly. And then also for incentive for big non-conference matchups, So now you're going to see more of the Ohio State versus Texas type games to kick off the season, whichever one's like that. Like, wow, we're going to start off with a big, powerful game like that, right? Also, you're going to eliminate the title game penalty. So you're going to remove the Power Four championship games, preventing the top teams from risking injury, or also losing the seeding rights. So the injury thing is big, Hayden. It's no different to me than, and I know you've seen this a lot in the past, how many players opt out of playing in a bowl game, a bowl game that is not of consequence, right? Because they're like, listen, playing in that bowl game, if I injured. Now I'm not going to get an NFL deal. It's not worth the risk. Right. And so we're seeing that time and time again. All right. So here are some of the cons. So the devalued regular season stakes, so analysts and fans note that the 24-team field would remove sort of that do or die drama of the November games as teams with three or even four losses can easily now qualify, right? Because we're now going back to strength of schedule. It used to be like, oh, six games if you want to play, you know, you got to win six to get at least a bowl game, right, bid. Yeah. Also, the diluted competitive pool. So critics, including a lot of former coaches, broadcasters, are saying that college football lacks 24 genuine national title contenders, which could lead to some, like, lopsided early round matchups. And then, of course, the loss of tradition, Hayden. And tell me what you think about this, because I think that's the one thing that diehard college football fans, they love tradition. And now you're starting to eliminate some of the tradition, and I think that that's a huge turnoff. It's no different than how how many people were turned off by the NFL when they started doing something right. They're like, I don't want to watch the NFL anymore. I'm just going to focus on college because this is the true amateur status in games. Now college just feels like NFL light. I would agree with that. And I think this kind of makes it feel like March Madness. Leave all of that to basketball. Let college football stay what it is. We're going to be talking with Jonah Karp about this a little bit later on, Amy. And I'm going to be very interested to hear what he has to say. Because I know for me, I'm being a little doomsday. Maybe college football is going to be kind of Not as good anymore? I don't know. It's the tradition for me. You hit the nail right on the head there. I'm an SEC college fan, so the loss of the SEC championship, all of the Power Four championships, just really devastating. Well, just as you know, especially if you've grown up an SEC fan, you know how weird everything is now. Everybody's dumping this conference and that conference and joining this conference, and it's like all these teams are like now in these conferences that make no sense, right? You've got West Coast teams playing in the East Coast. Anyway, it's just a mess right now. I feel like Nick Saban really went before Congress not too long ago and tried to save what was left of the joy of college football. And sadly, I think a lot of that fell on deaf ears. I think a lot of people agree with him, but unfortunately the movers and the shakers are trying to figure out, I think, how to make the most money. And I think that, sadly, the money is the thing that always wins out, and it's unfortunate. And that was exactly what I was going to say about that, Amy. And I was going to say the exact same thing. So glad to know we're on the same page. We are. We are. You and me, babe. We're the same. Fox 35 anchor Amy Kaufeld, thanks so much for joining us to talk about all of our top stories. Absolutely. Anytime. And anytime you want to talk college football, I'm your girl. I will come find you in the newsroom to talk about exactly that.