if you know waffle house, you know it never closes, not even on christmas, so the logic is if waffle shuts down after a hurricane it's a sign that the damage is really bad. in fact, fema even operates with three levels on the waffle house index, green, the restaurant is opening and offering a full menu, yellow, the waffle house is opened and only offering a limited menu. a quick google search shows there's 133 waffle house locations in florida. no word yet if any plan to close because of hurrican irma. now, mike, i know you lived in waffle house territory. do you feel like that's an accurate index in. >> according to a friend of mine who works for fema it is true. it came about because a lot of emergency responders eat there because it's the only thing open. >> 24/7, sure. >> that's how it came about. >> they have got it tough. i know you're looking at that, but you're also looking at this -- i don't want to call a stra strange, but rain. >> let's take a look at what's going on. from tropical storm lydia itself, moisture hanging around and here's a look at san reaf ale and and can yo

love that waffle house, man. i need a waffle house.urant and all. i guess you're some kinda good chef." but that waffle house, that is a phenomenon. >> sean: man, i'm telling you, it really is. what's good with boiled peanuts is whiskey. >> anthony: oh yeah. mm-hmm, that's good. oh, that is nice. >> sean: it's so good, man. it's so good. how's the visit two to charleston? >> anthony: oh, it's been great. this is a special place. it really is. >> sean: oh it's very unique. it's been a lot of fun to watch the food scene here go from kind of what everybody else is doing and was doing to doing something very singular and very special. >> anthony: and when you got a tradition and when you have traditional recipes and a story behind food like you have here, uh, that's -- that's a really cool thing. >> sean: well, the thing is i'm still discovering stuff here. i've been here 12 years. >> anthony: that barbecue that rodney gave was sick, man. >> sean: he is a force to be reckoned with, man. like, we talk about europe, everybody travels hours t

the so-called waffle house index determines the impact of a storm by looking at how many waffle houseollowing a storm. the index has three levels. based on the service at the restaurant green means the restaurant has power and damage is limited. yellow means there is no power and red means the restaurant is closed indicating severe damage. last time waffle house reached red was last year during hurricane matthew. >> sarah looked at today and said is this a real thing. >> yeah, glare yes, it is a real thing. >> now i just want waffles. >> same here. >> and a cup of coffee would hit the spot. >> no kidding. >> it's all about irma now. >> yes. >> that's what they'll be measuring this one so today is thursday. the impact to south florida would be going downhill during the afternoon on saturday and early sunday. >> you said it's shifting a little bit to the west because when it was shifting east people in charleston were barreling down. >> charleston get a little bit of a break but they still have a storm surge. the reason i say thursday, we're talking sunday, monday. could there be some t

if the waffle house reports red, all restaurants are closed.well owe indicates they are open with a limited menu. green means all are open and sign signals to fema the community is starting to bounce back. >> i do love a waffle house. >> let's get the latest on this. it's changing as we have been mentioning. >> we do have a change to that cone. we have this area of low pressure that's beginning to edge eastward out of the great lakes region. the whole thing can be unlog jammed. here is the trough that's stuck with this area of low pressure that's spinning. it will actually flow right along the lines of this trough. once it moves off to the east. the timing can mean the difference of when that turns and heads northward. we're going to be looking at temperatures that will drop into the 50s tonight. you may want to toss a blanket on the bed. winds will continue out of the west. here is some of the wrap around moisture from the area of low pressure scooting out of the great lakes. we'll see temperatures in the low 70s. ample sunshine on saturday. m

just look at the so-called waffle house index because if the restaurant chain closes or offers a limited menu, that is a very bad sign. that is something that has been identified by the head of theme ark, by the way, and we'll talk to the show of waffle house up next. >> and we want to here from you. write to us at the show or tweet us you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide >>> as feared, hurrican irma is leaving a trail of destruction in the caribbean more on where irma is heading next snoop we'll be talking more about that as it gets closer to south florida and other hurricanes on top of irma. this is the first time there's been 3 in the basin since 2010 there's katya and jose just behind irma. let look at jose's track because, unfortunately, some islands that were devastated which irma are in the path again of jose, and barbuda is one of them we'll keep them in our prayers as this storm is going to scoot just to the north soy it won't get the brunt like it did with airmana and still something to watch. let talk about airmana that's where all of our ice are. where is it goin

. >>> if you want to know how bad a storm is, look at the waffle house index.staurant chain closes or offers a limited menu, that's a very bad sign. we'll hear from the ceo of waffle house later on "closing bell." so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. is. >>> airline stocks and looming threat phil lebeau has a closer look how it's impacting that sectors's well as the rental car market flight awares we're primarily talking about crib yian flights. that will start to increase. american says it will wind down its operation and then cancel all flights out of m

>> i like waffle house or as i call it awful howls. >> you're not going to disrespect the dub. >> you basis with them? >> i'm from the south. i'm from alabama. everybody from the south is born in a waffle house. >> you just going to pull the tapes out on a brother. ( laughter ) you can't expect me to remember everybody i have a fight with about wafflehouse. this isn't about wafflehouse, this is about the white house. this story only blew up because the white house got involved because what jemele hill said honestly jowive just another day on twitter. then this lady fanned the flames. >> i think that's one of the most outrageous comments anyone could make and i think is a fireable offense by espn. >> whoa, that's a fireable offense? you want to see a fireable offense? look around your administration, man. ( applause ) ( cheers and applause ) look, everyone has a right to get angry about tweets. it's twitter. you get angry about tweets. but this is the white house official calling out a private citizen for speaking her mind. that's a step too far. >> trevor: hang on. sarah was saying th

back from natural disasters called the waffle house index.f a disaster, it's coded red. if they're open, but have a limited menu, that's marked yellow. and if they're open with a full menu, it's green. >> make your noses economic gauges. >>> the "new york times" has the story of harvey and irma. a couple married 75 years with hurricanes. he is 104. she is 92. they live in spokane, washington. the real-life harvey and irma were married in 1942. nothing personal. just names. we wish this couple the best. >> how about that? 75 years of marriage. >> amazing. >> terrific. >>> as hurricane irma approaches the united states, southeast florida's health system is mobilizing for a surge and demand for medical care. more than 1 million floridians told to evacuate from the path of the storm. at least 11 hospitals are being evacuated. health officials warn residents to take action now to avoid an emergency. our dr. david agus is here. good morning. mercy hospital miami evacuated 200 patients and health part facilities now closed. >> to get a patient out o

if a waffle house is closed because of a disaster it's coded red.menu that's marked yellow and if they're open with a fulml menu it's green. >> those are economic gauges. >> the new york times has the story of harvey and irma. a couple married 75 years with the same names as the two hurricanes. he is 104 she is 92. they live in spokane washington. they were married in 1942. it's nothing personal. they're just names and we wish this couple the best. how about that. 75 years of marriage. >> amazing. >> it's terrific as hurricane irma approaches the united states southeast florida's health system is mobilizing for a surge in demand for medical care. more than a million floridians have been told to evacuate from the path of the storm. 11 hospitals are being evacuated. they warn them to take action now to avoid an emergency. david is here. good morning. so we know mercy hospital miami evacuated 200 patients and over 140 health facilities in florida now closed. what are the implications for people that need care. >> to get a patient out of a hospital to a

in florida most businesses are shut down but one waffle house kept the doors open this morning and itwas pack would customers. one cook kept things running. they offered irma weekend specials on the menu. she figured there was really no reason to close. >> nothing out there right now. it's not crazy. i'm not flooded. i have a cook that was willing and here i am. >> keeping busy. eventually the restaurant did lose power and did have to close temporarily. it has been more than 15 hours since irma first made land fall in florida. an update on irma's path in just about five minutes. >>> schools will remain closed in parts of southern mexico after last week's 8.1 magnitude earthquake. classes are on hold in wuhaka. after shocks are still surrounding the area now. at least 90 people were killed in that earthquake. those made many nervous about going inside a church for sunday services. carried outside for open masses in several cities. >>> pope francis suffered a cut on his face in the pope mobile. just a minor injury and he continued his visit on schedule. >>> san francisco has the priceie

emergency managementle in 2004-2005 he used welfare house as gauge for the hurricane power -- used waffle house as a gauge for the hurricane power. he thought if it closed the chain restaurant it's as bad as it gets because they are known to stay open through everything. but now he is tracking the cuban coffee stands around miami. if they are closed it's as bad as it gets. miami damaged in the storm. stay with abc7 for updates throughout the everything. brad bell and josh knight are helping shed light on the damage and sharing stories of survival. jonathan: houston still recovering from hurricane harvey but today most of the kids went back to school. more than 200 schools were in session and the remaining 80 plus are opening in the next two weeks. the schools were damaged mostly by flooding. the students who attend them m other campuses until their schools open. >> they are a different campus. we are still working out how they will look. jonathan: he says it is important to get kids back in class. many of them see it as a safehouse. michelle: a pregnant woman missing for a week now. wallen, a t

goes to the microphone, and he says into that microphone what four or five guys sitting at the waffle house said to each other that morning. what a family said at their dinner table. what a group of guys said when they were fishing. and when he says it, it's like they're saying yep, he spoke for me. and that's why 53 million americans voted for him. and the eliteests on the coast still don't get it. liz, i don't think they're ever going to get it. but at some point, they're going to have to wake up and understand that there's a lot of people who are sick to death of the politically-correct nonsense that has gotten away with shutting down free speech, rather than encouraging it. liz: to your point, so many people out there are so tired of people on the left wrongfully and unjustifiably smearing people who disagree with them with name call. calling them racist. that's just mind-bogglingly idiotic and lazy. it is lazy to not sit down and come to some kind of common ground. what is the common ground here? because first, we have this for you, governor. check the democrat rep al green. he is call

all over america were saying to each other when they were sitting down drinking coffee at the waffle housethey were outraged that some of the players had turned their sport into a political type of platform. when he said that these owners are to just say, get those off the field, that is what a lot of americans were honestly feeling. let's be clear. you made the point, and i thinki it's a good one, dana, there are issues in this country that are to be addressed. there have been real problems in this country of division and racism is real, let's not kid ourselves. i think we have come a long way since the time when i was a little kid growing up in the south. t but all that said, if you want to change something, you need to ask yourself, is the manner in which i'm going about it going to change it? let's look at two different people. martin luther king jr. used nonviolence and his christian faith to shame people into realizing he wasma right. 40, 50 years after the civil rights experience of the approach of the 60s, is everybody celebrating bull o'connor? are there any streets named after hi

waffles? [ crying ] why! >>> watch out folks heading out of your house here up in north philadelphia, a barricade situation, stevee getting more streets shut down here and philadelphia police major incident response team here, right around the construction you see all over this area which is booming, and chris will walk, toward me and you will see cambridge street here which is shut down, you see fire trucks, ambulance crews, thinks where a shooting occurred about 8:30. people saw the shooter run down to the next block where chris will continue walking and that is where the barricade is. you can see where we are 16th street also shut down in the street beyond poplar, harmer is also shut down because that that is back of the house where they believe the shooter is. and super sad coincidence, on morning of the girard grandzol funeral we are three blocks from where he was murdered. we went down there in coincidence we found this scene and there was a great young man walking girard's dog oscar, morning of his funeral. you can only think oscar's wondering when is daddy coming home. >> oh, wow, just three blocks away.

and here he's waffling in the presidency, but more important i will, he has upended -- what they did yesterday upyepded the lives of hundreds of houses of young people in this country that are reporting to colleges this week around the country, or in jobs, and they don't know what their lives are going to be three months, six months. don't know where they're going. a good chance they'll be sent out of the country. you really have to, in this case, focus not on the presid t president's waffling but on the chaos and the cruelty that's involved here. >> david gregory, so this will likely split the republican party, fracture it. we've already seen who's on which said so far. the but you have two options, don't you? either something happens at the six month the and as the president said daca is legal identified by congress and they may head into the midterm the if they can't get other big accomplish. the through with the one big led legislati legislative being amnesty or have them heading into the midterms without helping these 800,000 people. >> there's an opportunity here, big time opening here for president trump if he can see his way

at joint base andrews, the white house says it will lay out specific priorities on immigration in the next seven to ten days. this comes as the president has been wafflingth democrats to keep the dreamer program. we'll get reaction from the hispanic chamber of commerce president who says he quit the president's diversity council over the daca policy. you do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >>> okay, we're back. i'm brooke baldwin. the white house says it will list its specific priorities on immigration in the next seven to ten days to provide some clarity to conservatives who said congress was close to reaching a deal on daca. but imagine the confusion for the nearly 700,000 dreamers currently enrolled in this program. my next guest actually left the administration over his disappointment with t

house counsel said. the trickiest thing for mueller approving obstruction charges against the president is to prove that the president acted with corrupt intent. we know after firing comey he kind of waffledforth, mentioned that it was because of russia, maybe not. this is the first piece of evidence that mueller has before the fact, immediately before the firing of comey, laying out his reasons in his own words. this is going to be important. now, the content matters. it's possible that this letter has a meticulously planned, you know, penned master plan for why he's firing comey. but as you know, president trump is -- he's no shakespeare. and so it may just be rambling and incoherent and possibly inappropriate. that's why what the white house counsel said to him about it is also important. and he can be compelled to testify about that conversation. >> can't he claim attorney/client privilege? >> he was not acting as the president's private attorney. he's the white house counsel. he is advising the office of the president. there is precedent that the white house counsel can be compelled to testify about potential criminal conduct of government employees. so that executive privilege would

house was caught off guard by this a bit. as you know, hallie, the president is frustrated with another of his aides, gary gomes, reince priebus, they waffled several months, even when the president said they didn't enjoy his full confidence at times. whether they pull the trigger and fire price i don't think we know, but i certainly think price is feeling the heat from the white house. >> what's the hhs response to this. my conversations with folks over there, they say listen, the secretary is busy, lot going on, commercial travel doesn't necessarily cut it. >> sure. i think that was the response at first. new revelations from my colleagues following this closely, should he have taken flights to luxury conferences, to an island in georgia to have lunch with his son, a lot of these weren't hurricane travel or last minute travel where flights were necessary, and my colleagues has proven in the story, there were a lot of commercial options, nashville, philadelphia. easy to get there via commercial plane and much cheaper. >> even amtrak. >> to some extent, their explanation here is not holding water for the white house. i don't think the white

waffles? [ crying ] why! ♪ hungry eyes ♪ one look at you and i can't disguise ♪ ♪ i've got hungry eyes applebee's 2 for $20. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. >>> the white housenton over her memoir in the 2016 election. as you saw in my interview with her, she isn't shy about going after the white house, and the people in the west wing have taken know fi taken notice. >> i think that type of misunderstanding of who this president is and, frankly, a misunderstanding of what he's been doing is exactly why hillary clinton isn't is it the president and is instead pushing a book with a lot of false narratives and a lot of, i think, false accusations and placing blame on a lot of other people instead of accepting it herself. >> back now with the panel. just before the break when i said i was dreading reading this book, but i actually enjoyed it, i just dread reading any political look-back book because usually to your point earlier it's about i'm about to run for president so i write a book that hardly anybody reads, but us reporters are the ones that have to read it. >> right. first of all, it's an interesting book because everyone wants to know what she was think

waffles. this segment is making me hungry. look, the republicans are keebl aware that the president may not be with them all the way through on this. as you mentioned, the house healthcare bill he turned around and called mean after the fact. there was the deal he struck with democratic leaders on the sort of fiscal bargain here on the hill. the difference between those examples and this is as kelly pointed out efrlier, the approximated is much more ingrajd on this issue. goes back months to make sure they're still on the same page. i'll give you my own analogy. i call it the dessert first plan. here is all the things we know you will like. now it's congress's responsibility to figure out how to pay for it. that's all the vegetables and stuff that they don't think you're going to like. so what i think congressional leaders is worried about here is donald trump ends up playing good cop supporting tax cuts. congress gets blamed for the unpopular work that has to be done to make them pay for and passed. >> garrett hake, thank you. and amber your colleague at the "washington post" talking about a political weekend donald trump. you saw what happened with roy moor