This informal index measures how severe a hurricane or other storm is based on whether the local Waffle House closes or not.
While the state of Florida braces for Hurricane Idalia, locals won’t just be looking for updates from local officials or the Weather Channel’s leading man Jim Cantore. They’ll also be watching their local Waffle House.
In short: Waffle House almost never closes. So when it does, area residents know that the situation is serious. In fact, by early Tuesday evening, “Is Waffle House closing for Hurricane Idalia” was a breakout Google query, meaning searches had spiked more than 5,000% over the previous 24 hours. Searches for “Waffle House Index” and “Waffle House hurricane” were also climbing, according to Google Trends data.
The restaurant chain was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. But last fall, when Waffle House closed over 20 Florida restaurants for Hurricane Ian, Njeri Boss, vice president of public relations at Waffle House, told MarketWatch that the Waffle House Index was created by FEMA’s former director “as a simple way to help FEMA workers assess the damage to a community after a hurricane hits and it is safe to return to the area.
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