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One video posted on social media shows a fight between multiple people, one appearing to be one of the victims. While it’s not clear what the fight was about, we know gunshots rang out after. The university closed its campus Wednesday evening as LAPD began arresting demonstrators. Waffle House has also garnered a reputation for being a hotbed of absolute insanity. "There are two signs you need to leave now. Waffle House is closed, and (Jim) Cantore shows up," one X user posted on the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. The index has been used to predict how severely weather will affect an area's accessibility to food, water and essential resources.
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However, the restaurant really has become shorthand at the highest levels of the American government for predicting how bad a disaster will be, or how much damage a disaster has done to a community. The "Waffle House Index," first coined by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director W. Craig Fugate, is based on the extent of operations and service at the restaurant following a storm and indicates how prepared a business is in case of a natural disaster. For FEMA, the ability to order a plate of smothered and covered hash browns is an important analytic. If a Waffle House is having trouble getting stock, then transportation has been interrupted. If the menu is limited, then it’s possible they have some utilities but not others. If its locations have locked their doors, inclement weather has taken over.
Does FEMA Use Waffle House Closures to Determine How Bad a Disaster Is?
On top of that, the then newly-reorganized agency's widely-criticized, delayed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left many with the impression FEMA was a bumbling (and at worst, carelessly lethal) example of federal inefficiency. In a interview with NBC News on Thursday, Fugate acknowledged that the index "doesn't tell you everything." But he says restaurants labeled red are still a "pretty good gauge" of which areas of a community are impacted the most and need critical attention first. When he was leaving the restaurant, Fugate and his team noticed several cars appeared to be parked at the Starbucks about a block away. But when they got closer, they realized the people weren't there for the coffee.
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People are looking to Waffle House as Hurricane Ian makes landfall again—here's why - CNBC
People are looking to Waffle House as Hurricane Ian makes landfall again—here's why.
Posted: Fri, 30 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The restaurant chain’s preparedness for natural disasters, which allows its locations to stay open throughout weather crises or open shortly after, has earned it a storm distinction with FEMA. Waffle House restaurants have a reputation for staying open during extreme weather — and for reopening quickly after being forced to close due to tornadoes and hurricanes. If you've lived in Florida for a while, you've probably heard of the "Waffle House Index," which is an informal metric used by emergency officials to measure the severity of a storm. "The Waffle House test just doesn't tell us how quickly a business might rebound — it also tells how the larger community is faring," said a FEMA blog post from 2011, when Craig Fugate was administrator under former president Obama.
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“I looked at not only the individual who shot the video but looking at the people in there, those employees, and how they seemed to just be so devastated, overwhelmed,” Dr. James Camm One Community One Voice said. The university "supports free speech through open dialogue that is respectful and constructive," the officials said. "The university is a private campus and the group had been violating some of their orders. It was a trespass at that point and we assisted with the arrests," Los Angeles Police Captain Kelly Muniz said during a briefing. No matter the reason, Waffle House has developed a cult following. Across its more than 2,100 restaurants in 25 states, Waffle House typically sees annual revenues exceeding $1.3 billion. Beloved for its delicious, cheap food and healthy doses of complete chaos, Waffle House holds a unique place in the hearts (and stomachs) of many Americans.
People are looking to Waffle House as Hurricane Ian makes landfall again—here's why
If a store like a Home Depot or a Lowe’s or your local hardware store can open, that means people can get the supplies they need in order to rebuild, to clean up the muck and progress along the path to recovery. Businesses in communities are often some of the biggest drivers of recovery. If people can go back to work, they can return to at least one piece of a normal life—and that little piece of normalcy can make a big difference. DAD HAT As of late we’ve been walking to the piers, two blocks away. If it’s raining, she likes to jump in the puddles, much to the chagrin of me in my father hat. When we get back home late morning, we do what I like to think of as the real breakfast, which is delivery from Galaxy Diner.
Waffle House has over 2,000 locations in the U.S., including more than 100 in Florida. FEMA does pay attention to their closures, as it helps them indicate how many people have evacuated from a town. That knowledge helps FEMA decide what they need to do after the storm.
The local Waffle House was still open, and it's where Fugate and his crew headed to breakfast. The restaurant had found a way around the water pressure issue to remain open, unlike the various other businesses in the area. TAMPA, Fla. - More than 20 Waffle House restaurants from Bradenton to Naples are closed as severe weather from Hurricane Ian comes through. The storm made landfall just north of Fort Myers Wednesday afternoon.
What Is the Waffle House Index? The True Story From the Man Who Created It, Craig Fugate
The popular 24/7 restaurant chain specializing in waffles and other breakfast food rarely closes it doors, often providing food and resources to first responders during natural disasters. The index is green when the local Waffle House is open and serving its full menu; yellow when it's open, but serving a limited menu; and red when it's closed. Those levels then indicate the extent to which a community has power and water. Green means the restaurant is serving a full menu, a signal that damage in an area is limited and the lights are on. Yellow means a limited menu, indicating power from a generator, at best, and low food supplies. Red means the restaurant is closed, a sign of severe damage in the area or unsafe conditions.
State officials and meteorologists joined Fugate to inspect the damage-stricken region in the days after Charley. The Waffle House chain does a significant amount of its business in the South, where a frequent amount of hurricanes can take place. The company says it has good risk management and disaster preparedness as a result. The iconic black-and-yellow Waffle House sign is visible on roads and highways all across the South to welcome diners 24/7. But severe weather can cause restaurants to limit service or close altogether, and this can be an indicator of how much damage a storm has caused. Of 200 restaurants that ended up in the storm’s path, just one, in inland North Carolina, gleamed red, for “still affected”; it had been flooded and needed cleaning out.
While most places across the U.S. joke that things are about to get serious when meteorologist Jim Cantore shows up, our sign in the South is when area Waffle Houses announce that they’re boarding up. "We know how important it is for a community to start the recovery process as quickly as possible," Boss says. "The fact that the index is being used, we're proud that our name is attached to it." "Go down to the Waffle House, they're making coffee by pouring water in the coffee maker out of bottles of water. It kind of shows you the different philosophies," Fugate said.
"The sooner restaurants, grocery and corner stores, or banks can re-open, the sooner local economies will start generating revenue again — signaling a strong recovery for that community." Its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. An important element is limiting the menu so the company's supply chain can focus on keeping certain items stocked and chilled or frozen. In May, the two Waffle Houses in Joplin, Mo., were among the few places to stay open after the deadliest tornado in six decades tore through the area.
The company claims getting back to business restores a sense of normalcy in affected areas. Before a storm hits, the store brings in extra supplies and has managers on standby to help. Most of the 1,900 Waffle Houses are located in the southeast United States, meaning the company is used to battling big storms. There are a lot of ways the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assesses and addresses the severity of a natural disaster. Meteorology can predict movement patterns, wind gusts, and precipitation.
A photographer was among those arrested during clashes between protesters and law enforcement on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Wednesday. Work and classes will remain remote, and officials are considering keeping the campus closed for longer. The California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt campus will remain closed through the weekend as protesters, including "unidentified non-students," continue to occupy two buildings, school officials said in an update. House Speaker Mike Johnson called Wednesday for the resignation of the university’s president if she can't "bring order to this chaos." But preparation is a complicated endeavor in an economy where few things are sold in the places where they were made.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area in 2005, Waffle House moved fast to bolster its post-disaster plans. Its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant, what to serve if there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. Limiting the menu helps the company’s suppliers focus on keeping certain items stocked and chilled or frozen, depending on the conditions in the area. The storm team examines what worked and didn’t after every disaster, each time learning new lessons.
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