As Hurricane Ian barreled into South Carolina after leaving behind destruction in Florida, people are keeping a close eye on the Waffle House Index. Here’s why.
in Florida, people are keeping a close eye on something that might surprise you: Waffle House.
The well-known restaurant chain currently has 10 locations closed in the hardest hit areas of Florida, a number that will"fluctuate rapidly" as staff works to re-open and aid community members, Waffle House spokesperson Njeri Boss tells CNBC Make It. Such closures are incredibly rare for the Norcross, Georgia-based chain, which has roughly 2,000 locations spread mostly across the southeast U.S. And they mean more than just a community being waffle-less: A local Waffle House's status actually serves as unofficial shorthand for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to track the severity of a weather disaster, and how much damage it's done to an area.
It's known as the"Waffle House Index," created by former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate after he and his colleagues discovered the last places that stayed open during
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