ORLANDO, Fla. – Floridians have special signals that a hurricane is going to be bad: Jim Cantore on our beaches. Disney World closing.
But for Floridians who have been through several hurricanes, four words can send chills down their spines: Waffle House is closed.
It takes a lot to close a Waffle House, so when the 24-hour diner announces it’s closing locations, Floridians know they need to get prepared.
On Friday, ahead of Hurricane Isaias’ landfall, rumblings of signs on Waffle House doors started appearing on social media. State Rep. Michelle Salzman, a Republican who represents the Escambia County area, posted a picture of one on her X account.
“You know it’s time to hunker down,” Salzman wrote.
The sign announced the store was locking its doors at 9:30 a.m.
The Waffle House website showed several Waffle Houses currently shut down, as of just before noon Central Time, in both Alabama and Florida.
What is the Waffle House Index?
The Waffle House Index is an unofficial scale for understanding how bad a natural disaster hit a community. It was first created by Craig Fugate, who was the Florida Emergency Management Director during the hurricanes of 2004.
Fugate said his team noticed, after Hurricane Charley, that Waffle House would often be the only place open, even in communities without power or running water. If a Waffle House was closed, it was a clue that conditions in that community were especially bad.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the company created a manual for opening after a disaster, added portable generators, and created special teams to help get stores up and running after a storm.
[WATCH: How Waffle House became a barometer for how bad a hurricane is (from 2024)]
The Waffle House Index became a way to help emergency managers triage recovery efforts. Fugate continued to use the index when he became FEMA administrator in 2009.
An area is in the green if the Waffle Houses are open, have full power, and are serving a full menu.
An area is in the yellow if the Waffle Houses are open, but the menu is limited. There may also be a loss of power.
An area is in the red if the Waffle Houses are closed.
During Hurricane Ian in 2022, 40 Waffle Houses were closed at the height of the storm. A couple of days later, only six Waffle Houses were closed in the southwest Florida areas where the storm made landfall.
A post from the Waffle House account from 2024 shows the Waffle House Index in action.
Waffle House has not posted about the Waffle House Index on social media yet for Hurricane Isaias.
News 6 has reached out to both Waffle House and FEMA to see if the index is still in use in any way. Waffle House has not responded yet. A FEMA spokesperson said they would get back to us.
Copyright 2024 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.