As the first effects of Hurricane Florence are felt along the East Coast, it isn’t clear whether or not Waffle House will shut down restaurants in the storm’s path.

A local Waffle House employee told us the restaurants try to stay open in “rain, sleet, snow, and hail.”  And officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency informally take into account the so-called Waffle House Index as they respond to severe storms. If a restaurant is closed or has limited menu items that is one indication of the weather’s severity.

https://youtu.be/wZATrtCQXwU

“I feel like that’s just kind of a staple of what Waffle House is about,” said Shannon Howard, an ROTC student at UGA. “Whether it’s a late night downtown, you’re looking to get something to eat you’re hungry or say hurricane, you always have somewhere to go eat.”

Waffle House tweeted out a photo of their Storm Center monitoring Hurricane Florence from their corporate office. Florence is now a Category 2 hurricane.