It's not FEMA's job to develop knowledge about coming storms anyways. NOAA does that. FEMA coordinates the preparation for and response to a disaster
Food is basically just pre-made batter, eggs, potatoes, and processed meat; all of which holds well and only requires limited refrigeration. Staff is pretty basic crew: Cooks and customers can order directly at the register if waiter isn't available.
Add to that a culture of staying open at all costs and there you go.
2) it's measuring basic availability of resources like water, electricity, natural gas, but also availability of food items like eggs, meat, bread. Plus labor.
And 3) in extreme cases, whether the (relatively uniform) building still stands and is occupied/usable.
The Waffle House storm center.[2]
They have an emergency menu mode. Only a few items are available, and those are all ones which can be prepared rapidly in bulk.
Waffle House locations deliberately do not use any systems which require continuous Internet connectivity.
[1] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/waffle-house-stay-open-...
There are a lot of foods I associate with the south, but maple syrup is definitely not one of them.
Early southerners would have put honey or molasses on their pancakes
I haven’t seen credible versions of this in the NYC area. Whereas hashbrowns and waffles are everywhere.
A huge portion of their customers are late night drunks. They aren’t trying to win awards for their cuisine.
The "Stay open at all costs" mentality is dangerous to employees. All but one restaurant was closed today that I could find. Their workers have personal nneeds, too. Such as waiting in lines for hours, boarding up their home, filling sandbags, packing up, and running away, all of which I did, too. Except waiting in lines for hours for sandbags. Nonetheless, that one diner, Recipe Box, was slammed, 'cuz we all wanna eat on the run. I don't know what the right answer is.
Waffle House isn't a great meal, even for a cheap diner, and it's not meant to be. It's hot and freshly cooked, though, and in the middle of a disaster that's something you might not be able to get at home (cf. the Mellow Mushroom owner in Asheville giving out pizza a couple of days after Helene - people like the pizza, but the quotes were all saying "it was just so nice to eat something hot"). And it's always open.
People starting companies who want to build loyalty: look at them. And learn. There's no southerner who doesn't know that you can get a cheap, fresh, and adequate meal from WH when everyone else is closed. You don't have to wonder if it's a 24-hour location: they all are. You see the sign, you can go.
The reliability really is a thing. I don’t even look for hours on a Waffle House, I just assume that if I can drive there they’re open.
https://walzr.com/waffle-house-index
(submittted by HNer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41793716)
[1] https://www.wafflehouse.com/how-to-measure-a-storms-fury-one...
"Jump teams are made up of Waffle House contractors, construction workers, gas line experts, restaurant operators, food providers and other associates who are assembled and ready to go wherever needed at a moment's notice. Their purpose is to help relieve local Waffle House operators and employees who need to evacuate, be with their families or tend to their homes when a storm hits, and help make sure restaurants are able to open quickly after a storm or stay open during a storm"
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/waffle-house-stay-open-...
[0] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/waffle-house-stay-open-...
Lacking official sources, some Texans use Whataburger app to track power outages