How to Measure a Storm's Fury One Breakfast at a Time

Table Of Content

• Fox 7 photographer among those arrested at University of Texas at Austin
• It’s 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa’s …
• These are the best Mother’s Day gifts you can buy …
• Weather Forecast
• Business & economics
• After a hurricane, the 24/7 restaurant provides one measure of how infrastructure and supply chains are holding up.

(In the next few days, as the storm churned up the coast and flooded North Carolina, it would close 98 all told.) And as soon as the announcement went out, media tracking the storm, and customers on social media, invoked the closings as a sign of the apocalypse. This 2016 story followed a team of Waffle House operations analysts as they decided whether to close any of the chain’s locations in preparation for Hurricane Matthew, a Category 5 storm that ended up affecting the Florida coast as a Category 2 storm. The notion that FEMA bases its disaster assessments entirely on the impact on Waffle House locations appeared to originate with that article. However, the context indicated that Waffle House was one of several large chains observed by FEMA to assess how badly affected an area's operations might be after a national disaster.

Fox 7 photographer among those arrested at University of Texas at Austin

If the test is to be believed, Hurricane Irma promises to pack a bigger wallop than Hurricane Harvey. Pat Warner, spokesman for Waffle House, said 40 Waffle Houses around Houston were affected by Harvey. The company expects about 250 restaurants to feel the impact from Irma. It's called the Waffle House Index, or test, which uses the operating conditions of the resilient Southern restaurants as a barometer for how well an area will recover from a hurricane, tornado or other hazard.

Did you know that Waffle House helps determine how severe a hurricane is? - FOX 35 Orlando

Did you know that Waffle House helps determine how severe a hurricane is?.

Posted: Mon, 28 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It’s 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa’s …

The power had gone out, rendering some of the products in the freezer unusable. The late Anthony Bourdain, of CNN, perhaps had the best description of the diner-like restaurant chain that serves hot meals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "I know that there are lots of other businesses as well that emergency management will look to," Boss told FOX Weather. If a Waffle House closes before a hurricane, it is a sign that they expect extremely severe weather and that people in the area should also evacuate. The first rule of operating in a disaster, though, is keeping personnel safe.

These are the best Mother’s Day gifts you can buy …

The restaurant chain was first founded in 1975 in Long Beach, California, by Harlem native Herb Hudson. It currently operates eight locations, with its newest location in West LA. "We actually have a storm playbook that every restaurant has. We revise it each year as needed. And it tells the management team what to do in the event of an emergency," said Njeri Boss, Vice President of Public Relations for Waffle House. But the Waffle House Index also stands for something less obvious.

Anti-war protesters dig in as some schools close …

Servers nudged customers to order sausage instead of bacon, because four sausage patties fit on the grill for every two slices of bacon. By this time, surrounding counties were requesting state aid from Fugate to help with recovery efforts. He and his team had begun monitoring indicators like school closures, power outages and search-and-rescue operations to determine what areas were in the most immediate need. They provided a color-coded map of the area to give local agencies and the public a better perspective as to where the severity of damage was located and where the state would begin administering help first. As the man who once ran Florida's Division of Emergency Management, Fugate's job took him to southwest Florida in 2004 to survey the destruction left by Hurricane Charley. The Category 4 storm made landfall near Fort Myers, causing catastrophic damage for a storm that was relatively small in size compared to other hurricanes.

FEMA doesn’t publish it anywhere; no one, except for Waffle House itself, counts how many restaurants are running lean or forced to close. But the company does give that count to the agency, and FEMA uses it — along with wind speeds and power outages and other objective measures — to judge a storm’s impact, and to figure out where its own crews and other emergency responders can get fed. Waffle House officials caution that residents should pay close attention to their local leaders and evacuate based on those recommendations.

Business & economics

Joplin's water system had been damaged so badly that there was no water pressure, leaving the entire city's residents and businesses without running water. The power of a passionate fan base has rarely been more visible. The term was coined in 2004 by Craig Fugate, who was the Florida Emergency Management director at the time during Hurricane Charley.

Armed home invasion suspect killed by police after …

As Hurricane Ian pummeled Florida's western coast on September 28, 2022, news broke that streets were flooded, houses had been swept away, and Waffle Houses were closing. The last detail seems like an odd thing to focus on—but it’s actually a sign of dire situations. "We do have closures in mandatory evacuation zones and locations within low-lying areas that are subject to severe flooding," Waffle House Vice President of Public Relations Njeri Boss told USA TODAY last year. The Waffle House Index can indicate how quickly a community is going to recover after a hurricane. All jokes aside, the Waffle House Index is a very real barometer that is unofficially used by state, local and federal governments to gauge the magnitude of disasters throughout the Southeast. Currently, the 10 closed Florida locations include two in Naples, a few in Port Charlotte and several in Fort Myers, Boss says.

Notably, grocery stores are often the first place people look to go when starting their recovery; they can provide much needed supplies like batteries, water, and food. All kinds of companies have come to the aid of communities impacted by the recent storms and in a variety of ways. Some companies, like Target and Lowe’s have donated money to trusted organizations while others, like Clorox and Walmart have provided much-needed supplies to hard-hit areas. That’s why, after disasters like Harvey and Irma strike, companies work to offer as much support as they can.

If you’re looking to donate, monetary donations to trusted organizations are the recommended route to take. Cash donations allow groups flexibility to get the supplies survivors and communities need when they’re needed. With Irma’s destruction having been hot on the heels of Harvey, and Maria yet to make its way through the Caribbean, it’s important for everyone to be involved. While fundraising may work for some, other teams—whether professional like the Florida Panthers or collegiate, like the Michigan State Spartans football team have taken to volunteering to help in their off-time. The index itself isn’t just about whether or not you can get pralines on your waffles or if you can get waffles at all, but rather about the damage in a neighborhood.

Resources are dispatched to areas hit hardest by torrential weather. Waffle House had no role in creating the index, but it values the "the goodwill gained from being open when customers are most desperate," its website says. Boss adds that the restaurant chain "takes pride" in always being among the first businesses to reopen once it's safe to enter an area devastated by a disaster. The lights that never seem to dim, even as hurricanes and natural catastrophes bare down on the communities around them. The assistance we’ve seen from people all over the private sector, as well as all over the world, has been astonishing to say the least.

Every Waffle House employee gets a key fob with lists of relevant phone numbers. Local managers keep track of who has challenging home situations — disabled parents, children with special needs, single heads of household — and might need extra help. Every location has a wall-mounted “crisis response” flier that includes detachable wallet cards listing personal-preparedness steps for hurricanes, tornadoes and ice storms.