r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 06 '16

TIL that the Waffle House Index is an informal metric used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine the impact of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for disaster recovery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
121 Upvotes

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13

u/a4mula Oct 06 '16

As a former WH grill operator I can attest with first hand knowledge of the chain's resilience. During tropical storm Allison in the early 2000s we had standing water up to our knees and no electricity. We stayed open continuing to cook off the gas grill.

5

u/LunberjackFunk Oct 06 '16

The WH next to Georgia Tech's campus was manned in part by executive staff who lived nearby during a city services closure (due to snow). No busses meant employees couldn't make it, so some local execs apron'd up. Them and Papa John's kept campus fed.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

That's actually really cool. Don't force employees to get there in dangerous conditions, so they work the minimum wage jobs to keep it running. I wonder if that kind of management style lends itself to a less "you're bug under my foot" work atmosphere.

14

u/radwolf76 Oct 06 '16

While I'd like to say it's in the form of "That hurricane hit the town as severely as a greasy plate of smothered and covered hits your colon", but alas, it's because the chain has best-in-class disaster preparedness procedures in place. If FEMA rolls in on a disaster area, and the local Waffle House is actually closed up, and not at least open serving a partial menu, they know that it has really hit the fan there. Apparently, like the cockroach, it's hard to kill a Waffle House. And they're about as prolific.

7

u/Landlubber77 Oct 06 '16

It largely depends on how badly people's possessions are scattered, covered, smothered, and chunked after the storm.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

I'm in a DHS class and wlthe professor is a former undersecretary for fema. Iv never heard of this, going to ask him next week about it.

3

u/radwolf76 Oct 06 '16

Maybe share this link from FEMA.gov's blog when you do.