Waffle House index: 5 locations shuttered as Hurricane Idalia slams Florida

When the Waffle House turns the lights off, it's bad.

Just ahead of Hurricane Idalia slamming into Florida's Big Bend Wednesday near Keaton Beach, five Waffle House restaurants were closed, Waffle House Vice President of Public Relations Njeri Boss told USA TODAY.

The popular 24/7 restaurant chain specializing in waffles and other breakfast food rarely closes it doors, often providing food and resources to first responders during natural disasters.

In addition to the five locations shuttered across the state, as of 10:30 a.m. local time, Boss said, one store had lost power due to the storm.

Which Waffle House locations closed down?

As a precaution, the business preemptively closed three store in Idalia's path (Live Oak, Madison, Lake City), Boss said. All three locations are in mandatory evacuation zones.

The chain also shut down two stores in the St. Petersburg area due to "storm surge and flooding," Boss said.

Boss did not identify the store that she said lost power Wednesday.

Florida power outage map:See where the power is out as Hurricane Idalia makes landfall

Sustained winds of 125 mph

Idalia made landfall Wednesday about 7:45 a.m. with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported.

The historic high-end Category 3 hurricane drove a "catastrophic" storm surge and birthed flooding for hundreds of miles before powering into the southern Georgia border around 11 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Idalia is the eighth major hurricane to make landfall along the Gulf Coast since 2017.

'Kind of used to it:'Not everyone chooses to flee possible monster Hurricane Idalia

'The Waffle House Index'

The Waffle House Index is an informal way of measuring the severity of a hurricane.

For restaurant locations, it has three code tiers: green, yellow and red. Green means the store will operate fully, and yellow means the restaurants will be open but the menu or power is limited. Red means the store will be closed.

The index has been used to predict how severely weather will affect an area's accessibility to food, water and essential resources.

"There are two signs you need to leave now. Waffle House is closed, and (Jim) Cantore shows up," one X user posted on the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Another X user posted: "You know it's a real storm when Waffle House is closed."

Contributing: John Bacon and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.