Is Waffle House open? Dorian forces index to a rare red in parts of South Carolina
The famed Waffle House Index indicates how well a community is faring amid major disasters based on whether everyone’s favorite breakfast diner is open.
As two Waffle House locations in South Carolina shuttered while Dorian thrashed against the coast Thursday, it wasn’t looking good.
Waffle Houses in Charleston and Johns Island were closed due to power and flooding issues, Pat Warner, director of PR and external affairs at Waffle House, told McClatchy news group in an email. All other restaurants in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina remain open.
But for residents and disaster management officials wary of Category 3 Dorian rolling north with powerful winds and a severe risk of flooding in coastal communities, a closed Waffle House isn’t a good sign.
The Waffle House Index is divided into three tiers: Green if a store is open and offering a full menu, yellow if it’s open with a limited menu and red if it’s closed — meaning parts of South Carolina have officially dipped into the red.
FEMA said the index helps determine how fast a community can or will recover during a disaster.
“If a Waffle House can serve a full menu, they’ve likely got power (or are running on a generator),” according to a 2017 FEMA blog. “A limited menu means an area may not have running water or electricity, but there’s gas for the stove to make bacon, eggs, and coffee: exactly what hungry, weary people need.”
Waffle House is typically well-prepared for disasters, FEMA said, meaning a dip into “red” is a rarity.
At Waffle House headquarters in Norcross, Georgia, Warner said seven people are monitoring the storm full time.
“(We) have up to 10 others that join us depending on what’s needed to track,” he said.
They’re surrounded by “three big screens with maps, radar and local media feeds” in addition to personal laptops hooked up to multiple additional screens, according to Warner.
Some took to social media Thursday to verify the local Waffle House was still open.
Luckily for them, residents up the coast were keeping a good lookout.
