Texans Used Whataburger’s App to Track Power Outages During Hurricane Beryl

• Some Texas residents have used the Whataburger app to track power outages following Hurricane Beryl.

• They used the restaurant map to see which areas appeared to have power restored.

• 2.26 million customers lost access to electricity, said CenterPoint Energy, Houston’s main energy provider.

Texas residents have been using the Whataburger app to track power outages following Hurricane Beryl due to a lack of information from Houston’s main energy provider.

CenterPoint Energy said 2.26 million customers lost power during the storm.

The company said it quickly restored power. But information on exactly where power was restored is hard to come by, with no maps available due to technical issues related to a storm in May, The New York Times reported.

Instead, residents used Whataburger’s website and app to find out which of its restaurants — typically open 24 hours a day — were open, thereby determining which areas had power.

“The Whataburger app works as a power outage tracker, which is handy since the power company doesn’t show a map,” one person wrote in a post on X, which has been viewed 11 million times.

“I really had to download the Whataburger app to track the power outage in Houston,” another person posted.

Many users pointed out the fun aspect of using Whataburger as a tracking tool, with one writing, “Using the Whataburger app to track power outages after a hurricane is probably the most Houston thing I can think of.”

The channel itself responded by saying in response to a tweet: “Well, there’s a use for our app that we hadn’t thought of! We hope you and everyone are doing well!”

Using the Whataburger app in this way is reminiscent of the so-called “Waffle House Index,” often used to measure the severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters.

Waffle House is known for staying open no matter the weather, so people know that if their local Waffle House is closed, then things must be bad.

Whataburger CEO Ed Nelson told USA Today that the app only gives a “general idea of ​​power availability” and that people wanting to visit one of its restaurants should call ahead to check if it’s open. One person posted on X that they saw cars lined up at a Whataburger drive-thru that was lit and appeared to be open, but there was no staff on site. “Every car is taking turns and sadly realizing it,” they wrote.

Business Insider has reached out to Whataburger and CenterPoint Energy for comment.

More than a million customers still without electricity

On Wednesday morning, CenterPoint Energy released a tracking map showing where power has been restored. As of early Wednesday morning, more than 1.3 million customers were still without power.

Beryl was the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. It strengthened to a Category 5 storm “unusually early in the year,” partly due to “unusually warm ocean temperatures,” the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. It became the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, with wind speeds of up to 165 mph (265 km/h).

It made landfall on the southern Caribbean island of Carriacou on July 1, tracked across the Caribbean, leaving devastation, and made landfall in Texas early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.

Acting Texas Gov. Dan Patrick said Tuesday that the state had received reports of three storm-related deaths: two from fallen trees and one from drowning. The AP reported Monday that Beryl caused at least 11 deaths.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center expects flash flooding Wednesday in areas from southeastern Michigan to northern New England, as well as possible tornadoes.

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