Waffle House in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Closed Ahead of Hurricane Florence | Eater

"The 24-hour restaurant on Myrtle Beach’s Frontage Road has been shuttered until after Hurricane Florence, an unusual move for a chain that rarely closes and is therefore being read as a stark signal of the storm’s severity. Local reports describe the location as “eerily empty” ahead of landfall. Federal emergency officials informally use the chain’s operating status as a quick disaster-recovery barometer — a green/yellow/red rubric that denotes full service, limited service (often on generator power), and complete closure — so a closed outlet is treated as an indicator of particularly dangerous conditions and a trigger for evacuation-level concern. Although the chain typically deploys “jump teams” from other regions to keep restaurants open during disasters, this site’s closure underscores warnings that Florence could be catastrophic, with major flooding expected across the Carolinas and Virginia." - Whitney Filloon