, showing disruptions to operations in Georgia and South Carolina. The index is based on Waffle House's reputation for strong disaster preparedness and for staying open during
extreme weather or reopening quickly afterward. {{Blockquote
Levels The index consists of three levels, based on the extent of operations and service at the restaurant following a storm:
Background , September 2018 In August 2004, following
Hurricane Charley in Florida,
Craig Fugate, who was leading Florida's Division of Emergency Management at the time, along with Tad Warfel and Ben Nelson, coined the scale based on the status of Waffle House restaurants still open in areas that had been hit by a disaster. The phenomenon was also observed and reported by journalist
Matt Dellinger in a 2006 article in
The Oxford American, in which he noted that he had "found a way to map the destruction from Hurricane Katrina: look for Waffle Houses." The term was also used by FEMA Administrator
Craig Fugate in May 2011 following the
2011 Joplin tornado, during which the two Waffle House restaurants in Joplin remained open. The measure is based on Waffle House's reputation for staying open during extreme weather and for reopening quickly, albeit sometimes with a limited menu, after very severe weather events such as
tornadoes or
hurricanes. The chain's disaster preparedness measures include assembling and training "Waffle House jump teams" to facilitate fast reopening after disasters. A
FOIA request 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 preparation for
Hurricane Milton in October 2024, Waffle House announced that 25 Waffle House locations in the
Tampa Bay area and eight in the Fort Myers area would close on October 8 prior to the storm's arrival. ==See also==