> there just has to be a risk that consumers think that this is somehow associated with Waffle House

More than risk; some of the tweets could be actual evidence of that confusion.

I think if the general branding vibe of the site was more about hurricanes and only made a reference to the "Waffle House index" via NOAA, it might have had better chances of surviving. And also a big disclaimer that there is no affiliation with WH would have also helped.