FEMA Uses 'Waffle House' Index To Measure Hurricane Damage.

What's the one question nobody asks? Ever?

"Hey, is Waffle House open?"

Of course it's open! And that's why FEMA uses the "Waffle House Index" to assess how an area is doing during and after a natural disaster like Hurricane Florence. There are three states of Waffle House "openness" that help FEMA figure things out.

Think of it like a traffic light.

An open Waffle House is like a green light.  Things are OK. 

An open Waffle House serving a limited menu is like a yellow light. They don't have the all the food they usually have, so they serve what's there.

A closed Waffle House is a red light. It means things are bad. Cuz they never close unless it's impossible to serve you. That means workers wouldn't be safe there, can't get there, or there's nothing to serve because the food can't get there.

One Waffle House exec said on CNN that closing a Waffle House is hard. Since they never close, it's hard to find the keys! True. Plus, nobody knows how to close it, because they've never had to put things away for storage before.