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Over 300 Waffle House locations nationwide are temporarily closing, including a handful in the Tampa Bay area. Most will remain open for takeout.

Waffle House has more than one hundred restaurants in the state of Florida.

And these restaurants are known for toughing it out and staying open even when weather conditions are scary. They also reopen quickly after weather events.

Have you heard of the “Waffle House Index”? It’s actually a way, albeit informal, that emergency officials measure a storm.

This methodology came about in 2004 while Hurricane Charley was rolling through by the (at the time) Florida Emergency Management Director, Craig Fugate.

Here’s how it works: When a Waffle House closes before a hurricane, you better believe extremely severe weather is on the way, and it is time for folks in that area to get out.

Fugate explained the index to FOX Business. He said, “If it was open and had a full menu we probably weren’t in the worst-hit areas yet.”

Here are the three levels of the Waffle House Index:

GREEN: Full menu; the restaurant sustained little or no damage and has full power
YELLOW: Limited menu; the restaurant is running out of food or has limited power
RED: A completely closed Waffle House

Njeri Boss is the Vice President of Public Relations for Waffle House. He explained, “We actually have a storm playbook that every restaurant has. We revise it each year as needed. And it tells the management team what to do in the event of an emergency.”

For more on this story, click here.

Wednesday Morning Hurricane Ian Update: Now a Category 4, Catastrophic Surge Expected For Southwest Florida

The strength of Hurricane Ian is frightening. It’s possible Ian could reach Category 5 status. Although the storm’s track still is south of Tampa Bay, this is still going to be a very brutal day in our area. Here are the latest observations from Denis Phillips and his team from ABC Action News along with other experts.

For more information, visit our Storm Center on our homepage.

  • 10am Radar...

  • Current winds in Tampa Bay...

  • Newest surge estimates...

  • Charley similarities and differences...

  • It's happened again...

  • Nearly a Cat 5...

  • Rainfall...

  • The track is south of Tampa... however...

  • Tornadic Activity...

  • Skyway has closed...

  • Current Stats...

  • 155 MPH...

  • From the National Hurricane Center...

  • A historic storm...

  • A message from the Mayor...

  • Landfall still expected to be south of Tampa