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The restaurant that never closes, has closed its location in Panama City Beach, Florida, in anticipation of Hurricane Michael. The 24-hour restaurant chain is known to stay open during natural disasters.
RYAN KRUGER, 11 ALIVE
This waffle brand in Panama City Beach, Florida, has a sign closed at the door.(Photo: WXIA-TV, Atlanta)
Waffle House is known to stay open during the worst natural disasters, but Hurricane Michael managed to close 30 restaurants starting Wednesday night.
Waffle House spokeswoman Pat Warner told USA TODAY that the closed restaurants were spread across two states, 22 in Florida and 8 in Georgia.
Warner said that Waffle House had not yet been able to check the damage on his site, but had planned to do it early Thursday. The company would then develop a reopening plan, he said in an email.
According to a WJAX-TV report released on Wednesday, at least one place suffered significant damage during the storm. An advertising billboard fell on a site in Panama City, causing significant damage to the building, reported the station.
Michael crashed Wednesday the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained maximum winds of 155 mph at the landing, just two miles from Category 5.
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The Waffle House Storm Center, a team that mobilizes in extreme weather, monitors the trajectory of the storm since Monday.
Waffle restaurants are rarely closed and often provide food and resources to first responders during natural disasters.
What is the Waffle House index? The Waffle House Index is an informal way for FEMA to gauge how quickly a community can rebound after a disaster.
Newslook
The Federal Emergency Management Agency even monitors a "Waffle House Index," a color indicator of open, closed, or restricted-service restaurants, to determine how far an area will recover from a hurricane, a tornado or other danger.
"The Waffle House test does not tell us how fast a business can bounce back, it also shows how the community as a whole is doing," said a FEMA blog 2011. "Earlier, restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores or banks will be able to reopen, sooner local economies will start generating revenue again – announcing a strong recovery for this community. "
Sean Rossman, Joel Shannon and Susan Miller contributed to this story. Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets.
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/10/10/hurricane-michael-waffle-house-closed/1588278002/
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