The Waffle House Index is a

metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathema ...

named after the ubiquitous Southern US restaurant chain Waffle House known for its 24-hour, 365-day service. Since this restaurant always remains open, it has given rise to an informal but useful metric to determine the severity of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for disaster recovery. It was coined by former administrator

Craig Fugate William Craig Fugate (born May 14, 1959) is the former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As director for the Florida Emergency Management Division, he oversaw the " Big 4 of '04" and as the administrator for the Federal E ...

of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA). The metric is unofficially used by FEMA to inform disaster response.

Description

The index is based on Waffle House's reputation for having good disaster preparedness and staying open during

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locat ...

or reopening quickly afterwards.

Levels

The index consists of three levels, based on the extent of operations and service at the restaurant following a storm:

Background

The term was coined by FEMA Administrator

in May 2011 following the

2011 Joplin tornado A devastating EF5-rated multiple-vortex tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak, the tornado touched down just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a ...

, during which the two Waffle House restaurants in Joplin remained open. The measure is based on the reputation of the restaurant chain Waffle House for staying open during extreme weather and for reopening quickly, albeit sometimes with a limited menu, after very severe weather events such as

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

es or

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s. The chain's disaster preparedness measures include assembling and training "Waffle House jump teams" to facilitate fast reopening after disasters. Waffle House, along with other chains (such as

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, and

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

) which do a significant proportion of their business in the southern US where there is a frequent risk of hurricanes, have good risk management and disaster preparedness. Because of this, and the fact that a cut-down menu is prepared for times when there is no power or limited supplies, the Waffle House Index rarely reaches the red level. The "Waffle House Index" sits alongside more formal measures of wind, rainfall, and other weather information, such as the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, which are used to indicate the intensity of a storm. Dan Stoneking, FEMA director of external affairs, wrote in a FEMA blog post: A

FOIA request The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), , is the U.S. federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased or uncirculated information and documents controlled by the United States government, s ...

response in 2017 included emails saying that the Waffle House Index was a personal project of Craig Fugate's, denying a connection between the Waffle House Index and FEMA's National Business Emergency Operations Center. In 2022, because of the expected severity of

Hurricane Ian Hurricane Ian was a large and destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane that was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Ian caused widespread damage across western Cuba and the southeast Unit ...

, 35 Waffle Houses closed in Florida prior to the storm's arrival, an extremely rare event. Hurricane Ian eventually made landfall as a

Category 4 hurricane Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) *C ...

with winds of , peaking out over the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 5 hurricane.

References

External links

FEMA Blog: News of the Day (July 7, 2011) – What do Waffle Houses Have to Do with Risk Management?

Always Open , Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
* Colbert Report segment o
FEMA's Waffle House Index
* Data Crunch episode o
the Waffle House Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waffle House Index 2011 introductions Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard scales Waffle House

Description

Levels

Background

See also

References

External links