The 24/7 breakfast restaurant Waffle House has boarded up locations in the path of Hurricane Milton.
Topline
Dozens of locations of the 24/7 breakfast restaurant Waffle House in Florida will close their doors by 2 p.m. Wednesday in anticipation of Hurricane Milton’s expected evening landfall, making the storm a “red” on the federally recognized “Waffle House Index” that can quickly explain the severity of an impending weather event.Key Facts
Waffle House—which has famously stayed open through hurricanes, blizzards and other natural disasters—will close locations in and around Tampa, Fort Meyers, Orlando, Ocala and Daytona, Florida as of 2 p.m. Wednesday (locations in Gainesville and Miami will stay open).
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate coined the “Waffle House Index” in 2011 after a tornado barreled through Joplin, Missouri, and two of the chain’s restaurants in the city remained open, prompting him to say “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad.
