Hurricane Beryl Makes Whataburger App Vital in Houston

Texans hit by Hurricane Beryl have found a new way to keep up to date with one aspect of the storm damage. The Washington Post reports that a map of Whataburger fast food restaurants open in Houston appeared as a shortcut to the extent of ongoing power outages caused by the storm.

Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday after killing at least seven people in the Caribbean as it headed toward the United States. at least 11 peoplehampered air traffic in the western Gulf Coast region, and Oil and gas facilities under threat there. Communication from CenterPoint Energy, the city’s electric utility, was too slow for many of the more than 2 million people who lost power.

To track progress, Houstonians are turning to the Whataburger app to see which restaurants are in an informal indicator system: Locations that are orange during their regular business hours are presumed to have the lights on; locations that are gray are presumed to still be in the dark. Whataburger’s system is reminiscent of the so-called “Waffle House Index,” which even the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses as a measure of weather-related devastation, because the chain’s 24-hour restaurants only close in the most extreme circumstances, after hurricanes and tornadoes, among other extreme events.

Ed Nelson, Whataburger’s CEO, is eager to capitalize on the goodwill left by a government dereliction of duty. “Whataburger is that friend that’s there for you in good times and bad,” he told local CBS affiliate KHOU. earlier this week“We’re pleased that the Whataburger app has helped Houstonians understand where electricity is available in the city.”