Posted on 10/10/2018 5:07:15 PM PDT by dayglored
Waffle House restaurants don’t close unless absolutely necessary — so the shuttering of 18 Florida locations ahead of Hurricane Michael speaks volumes about the severity of the storm.
“We have closed these restaurants yesterday so our employees can be safe as Hurricane Michael comes on shore,” Waffle House spokesperson Pat Warner confirmed to Fox News.
“We have staged people and resources outside of the strike zone to come into the area after the storm passes. We will assess the damage and begin to reopen the restaurants as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Warner told USA Today he expected more to close before Hurricane Michael — now a Category 4 hurricane — makes landfall on the Florida Panhandle.
“Waffle House is usually our last hurrah to get a warm meal, with protein and of course sugar, and friendly service,” Micolucci said.
“We saw 4 in PCB closed. That’s a sign that this is serious. Some were boarded up. Others weren’t.”
The popular Georgia-based diner chain, renowned for its 24-hour service 365 days a year, is often used as an indicator by local officials to gauge the severity of disasters or outages.
Waffle House’s emergency measures are so well-regarded, in fact, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) unofficially uses the restaurants’ status as an indicator for the severity of a natural disaster....FEMA officials noted the severity of the storm damage based on the fact that the chain never closes.
The “Waffle House Index” has three color-coded levels: Green means the restaurant is open and serving a full menu; yellow indicates the menu has been scaled back and there may be water but no power; and red indicates the restaurant is completely shut down and the area is likely in need of serious assistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
(I can't believe no one has posted this yet!)
That 18 were closed was a post in NautiNurse’s hurriacne thread, but no story link.
I want to know that status of the stores tomorrow at, say, 10AM in the FL panhandle and SW GA.
It’s serious when Waffle House closes.
My guess is that at least some of them will re-open tomorrow. This monster is moving VERY quickly, which despite the terrible wind and water means less overall damage than if it was hanging around the way Florence did.
For some reason this makes me think of this joke:
It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.
But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, “Is the coming winter going to be cold?”
“It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed,” the Meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
One week later he called the National Weather Service again. Is it going to be a very cold winter?” he asked.
“Yes,” the man at National Weather Service again replied, “it’s going to be a very cold winter.”
The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?”
Absolutely,” the man replied. “It looks like it’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever.”
“How can you be so sure?” the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, “The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.”
What has six legs and three teeth?
Midnight shift at Waffle House!
[rimshot]
Ha! Nice.
Good one!
“It’s serious when Waffle House closes.”
___________________________________________
It’s funny in a way. We poke fun at the poor Waffle House employees, customers and Management and yet the employees do seem to have a great work ethics. And the customers are so interesting at times!
I was watching the live storm chaser streamers driving around today and the Waffle House in PCB appeared undamaged.
I heard that the wind was so bad that one guy’s chicken laid the same egg three times.
I don’t know its that bad based on one reading. I’m gonna hold out for the IHOP index.
Pretty bad indeed.
And this from Waffle House I can believe.
TV weather, not so much.
TV news, not at all.
LOL - great one...
There’s also the Walmart delivery truck index...
Darn, now I want a Waffle. I already own a House.
Maybe Waffle House just doesn’t want to serve Jim Cantore....
FReepmail me or KoRn to get on or off the Waffle House Ping List.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.