In a move that could be interpreted as a sign of how bad things are in Florida, 21 Waffle Houses have closed their doors in the Sunshine State due to Hurricane Ian.
The “Waffle House Index” has become an unofficial gauge of how severe a natural disaster is, a practice that has been acknowledged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The popular chain restaurant is known for only closing in the direst of conditions, often staking out to provide food and resources for first responders during recovery efforts, according to USA Today. As the logic goes, if the ever-resilient Waffle Houses are closing, the situation must be severe.
“The Waffle House test just doesn’t tell us how quickly a business might rebound — it also tells how the larger community is faring,” a FEMA blog post states, according to the outlet. “The sooner restaurants, grocery and corner stores or banks can reopen, the sooner local economies will start generating revenue again — signaling a strong recovery for that community.”
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“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed?” then-FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said in 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal. “That’s really bad. That’s where you go to work.”
The restaurant team seems to have embraced its role, even forming a Waffle House Storm Center, which tracks and assists with natural disaster recovery operations. The team has been tracking Ian ever since the storm was given a name. However, even Waffle House has its limits; the situation was considered too dangerous in many areas for Waffle House to persist.
“We do have closures in mandatory evacuation zones and areas within low-lying areas that are subject to severe flooding,” Waffle House Vice President of Public Relations Njeri Boss said.
The extent to which a Waffle House is operating serves as its own measurement of a disaster’s severity, the details of which were related by an official to the Wall Street Journal.
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“Green means the restaurant is serving a full menu, a signal that damage in an area is limited and the lights are on. Yellow means a limited menu, indicating power from a generator, at best, and low food supplies. Red means the restaurant is closed, a sign of severe damage in the area or unsafe conditions,” the outlet wrote in 2011.
The closure of 21 locations in the storm’s path thus indicates red: the utmost severity.
