How the Waffle House Index helps FEMA judge the severity of a hurricane

If a Waffle House remains open in town, even in a limited capacity, neighbors are reassured that the coming storm is unlikely to cause devastation. A closed location of the trusted restaurant chain has come to indicate impending disaster. The value is known as the Waffle House Index.

What might seem like silly logic has become one of the most reliable ways for Southerners—and even federal officials—to gauge the severity of a storm and identify the communities most in need of immediate help.

About two dozen Waffle House locations remained closed in the Carolinas and the chain’s home state of Georgia on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the states were among those hit by Hurricane Helene. Several other locations were open but serving a limited menu.

As Hurricane Milton heads toward Florida communities still recovering from Helene, many Waffle House locations along the Gulf Coast, including those in Tampa, Cape Coral and St. Petersburg, they closed in preparation.

What is the Waffle House Index?

The South’s favorite disaster authority provides an informal measure of how significantly a storm will or has affected a community.

A map of the chain’s more than 1,900 locations, concentrated in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, helps residents of storm-prone states assess whether they are likely to lose power, suffer severe flooding or endure other extreme conditions that it could cause a resilient restaurant to close its doors. For some, it is an obvious sign if they need to evacuate.

Waffle House is known not only for serving breakfast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but also for its disaster preparedness. For decades, Southerners noticed that their local Waffle House seemed to be the only business still open during a storm or the first to reopen after it passed.

The restaurant chain’s reputation for staying open when people desperately needed a place to warm up, charge devices, and grab a hot meal has become a pretty reliable — if funny — source to help track efforts to recovery.

How does the index work?

Waffle House’s social network is sharing color-coded maps of its restaurant locations in select regions soon to be hit or recovering from storm damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also provides some live tracking.

Green means the location is serving a full menu, indicating minimal damage to the surrounding area. The lights are on and the syrup is flowing.

Yellow means the restaurant serves a limited menu, a signal that it is drawing power from a generator and may be running low on food. The area may not have running water or electricity, but there is enough gas to fry bacon for hungry customers.

Red means the location is closed, a sign of unsafe operating conditions and serious damage to the restaurant or nearby communities.

How did the index start?

Former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said he thought of the Waffle House Index while leading emergency management efforts in Florida in 2004. He was looking for something to eat while surveying the devastation left by Hurricane Charley and was able to only find a Waffle House that serves a limited area. menu.

His team began noticing other Waffle Houses opening in communities without electricity or running water. The restaurants eventually became a key feature on a color-coded map his team provided to help the public and local officials identify where storm damage was worst.

Fugate continued to use his color-coded map when he joined FEMA under President Barack Obama. He was the agency’s administrator in 2011 when a deadly tornado tore through Joplin, Missouri. Apparently both Waffle Houses in town remained open.

The restaurant chain’s disaster preparedness is no coincidence. Seven locations were destroyed and another 100 closed in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, but company executives saw business soar at restaurants that quickly reopened.

They soon adopted a business strategy centered on keeping their restaurants operational during and after a disaster, according to the company’s website. The chain said it invested in portable generators, bought a mobile command center and trained employees on what else they can do if they lose power.

What does the index say about Hurricane Milton?

Waffle House closed many locations in Florida before Hurricane Milton made landfall, indicating damage was likely to be severe.

Milton was downgraded to a Category 5 storm again on Tuesday as it headed toward Florida’s west coast. The ferocious storm could deliver a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populated region with huge storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation into projectiles.