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When any of the stores are in danger of being hit by severe weather, so-called “jump teams” are activated to deploy wherever needed. The so-called Waffle House Index dipped into the red as the company announced late Tuesday it was temporarily closing 365 locations due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Which begs the question: How, exactly, is the chain with nearly 2,000 restaurants in 25 states, able to stay open during or after storms when most other establishments close down? They had no homes."Įven with Category 5 hurricanes, those types of closures are an exception rather than the rule. Even if we could get the restaurants back up, there was no place for our associates to live. “Most of the restaurants opened up quickly afterwards, and some shut down entirely. And while 158 people died in the disaster, both of the town's Waffle House branches stayed open (via Accuweather ). It was coined by former administrator Craig Fugate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “Katrina was by far our biggest disaster,” said Pat Warner, director of public relations and external affairs for Waffle House. The informal 'Waffle House Index' was coined in 2011 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s administrator, Craig Fugate, after the Joplin tornado struck Missouri in 2011, causing 2.8 billion in damage. The Waffle House Index is an informal metric named after the Waffle House restaurant chain to determine the effect of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for disaster recovery. Boss did reiterate that the Waffle House Index doesn’t actually belong to Waffle House, but they appreciate their name being used. Once an event has occurred in an area, FEMA starts to assess the impact on the community using supply chains that are in place and operating, utilities that are operating or in need of repair, home damage, etc. The Waffle House Index sits alongside more formal measures of wind, rainfall, and other weather information, such as the SaffirSimpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which are used to indicate the intensity of a storm. Sunday morning: Hurricane Ida tops 150 mph, bounces east toward New Orleans: 'I'm speechless,' meteorologist says One indicator they informally use is The Waffle House Index, here’s how it works. More: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters. Since then, Waffle House has opened more than 30 new stores south of Lake Pontchartrain. Entire city blocks were leveled, and some stores never reopened. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Waffle House had to close 107 restaurants in the Louisiana and Mississippi area with some of those stores taking years to open back up because so many employees were displaced.