Florida deals with a hurricane season every year.
The state has become the best in the country at handling disaster responses.
And Florida used this surprising restaurant chain to gauge the damage from the hurricane.
The Waffle House Index becomes a leading indicator
Florida dealt with back-to-back direct hits from major hurricanes.
Hurricane Helene slammed into the state’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm.
It was followed by Hurricane Milton which made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota.
The Waffle House Index has become an indicator of how bad the damage was from a storm in the area.
With more than 1,900 locations mainly in the southeast and the Mid-Atlantic region, it has a footprint in areas that are prone to hurricanes and tornados.
The breakfast chain is known for staying open 24 hours a day every day of the year and its determination to stay open serves as a signal.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials run a Waffle House Index that color codes the status of the chain’s restaurants.
Our #whindex status maps reflect our closures as of 2pm today in advance of #HurricaneMilton. More updates to come. Please stay safe.
**Due to the potential for variations in Milton’s path, this information is subject to change without notice. Please follow local guidance. pic.twitter.com/AWig09L8bP
— Waffle House (@WaffleHouse) October 8, 2024
A red dot means that a location is closed, often a sign a storm is about to hit or hit an area particularly hard.
Waffle House closed all of its stores in the Tampa area before Hurricane Milton made landfall.
A yellow dot means that the restaurant has a limited menu and could be running its power off a generator.
Green means the location is running at full strength.
Waffle House developed a reputation in the south of being the only place open during a storm and often the first place to reopen after one.
The restaurant even has its own storm center.
Waffle House has a Storm Center with an entire operations team that is so good at their job they assist FEMA during hurricanes.
The European mind cannot comprehend this pic.twitter.com/Wfmw5hPzzC
— Alex Cohen (@anothercohen) October 9, 2024
The creation of the Waffle House index
Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate thought up the Waffle House Index in 2004 when he was leading emergency management for Florida.
He was looking for a place to eat after Hurricane Charley hit the state and the only place he could find was a Waffle House with a limited menu.
Fugate found that Waffle House would stay open in areas that lost power and running water.
He developed the color-coded system that was used to tell where the damage was most severe after a storm hit.
Waffle House leaned into its reputation for staying open in severe weather after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana in 2005.
The locations that reopened in the aftermath were slammed with business and a strategy was born.
Some locations in disaster-prone areas got generators and employees were taught what they could serve without any electricity.
Sales can double and sometimes triple for Waffle House in the aftermath of a storm.
Fugate brought the Waffle House Index to the FEMA when he started working there.
“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed?” Fugate said. “That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”
The Waffle House Index made its formal debut when Fugate responded to the devastating tornado that leveled Joplin, Missouri.
Joplin’s two Waffle Houses stayed open.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
