Whataburger outage map? Texans use burger chain's app for power updates after Beryl
Move over, Waffle House Index, another restaurant-turned-disaster-tracker has entered the scene.
Texans, who have experienced mass power outages and property destruction thanks to Hurricane Beryl, have been searching for updates from energy provider CenterPoint Energy, which has been grappling with over 2 million power outages since Monday.
But the energy provider's outage map has been out of operation since a derecho hit the area in May, Houston Landing reported.
The lack of communication has inspired some Texans to turn away from official updates from the utility provider in favor of a familiar name: Whataburger.
CenterPoint customers who feel left in the dark have taken to the burger chain's app for information on their local power outages. Specifically, they are looking at the chain's location map, which is color-coded with the classic "W" logo showing orange if the restaurant is open and grey if it's closed − in this case, likely due to a lack of power.
One particularly keen-eyed Houstonian posted this discovery on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, receiving more than 7 million views and 24,000 likes by Tuesday afternoon.
"The Whataburger app works as a power outage tracker, handy since the electric company doesn't show a map." said user @BBQBryan, who posted a screencap of the locator tool on the Whataburger app.
Sure enough, the map, which was zoomed into the Houston area, showed a smattering of greyed-out icons with a handful of orange. Whataburger told USA TODAY that the app is updated in real-time as restaurants become operational.
Texas power outage map:Beryl leaves millions without power, heads toward Mississippi
"We’re glad the Whataburger app has been helpful to Houston residents to understand where power is available in the city," Whataburger President and CEO Ed Nelson said in a statement to USA TODAY.
"Keep in mind, the app should only be used as a general idea of power availability," Nelson continued. "We encourage residents to call local units to see if they are open and operating. Everyone please be safe if you leave your home.”
USA TODAY reached out to CenterPoint for comment.
Texas power outage map
Over 2 million without power after Beryl hits Texas
In a post on X, CenterPoint said it had deployed 12,000 field workers to restore the 1 million customers still without service by the end of the day Wednesday.
Another post, shared by Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado, estimated on Monday that more than 2.2 million customers were initially left without power. In comments beneath, some reported an inability to get ahold of CenterPoint via phone, while similarly disgruntled customers took to the comments beneath CenterPoint's own posts.
Many claimed they were unable to get any updates on the status of their service via phone, email or website. Others pointed out that the outage map is prone to going down during major incidents, leaving them frustrated and turning to other resources like word-of-mouth and, well, Whataburger.
As of Tuesday afternoon, an outage map was still unavailable on the CenterPoint website. Just after 4 p.m. ET, a live counter on the site reported about 1.6 million customers affected by outages and 849,518 customers with restored service.
The company noted phone hold times are longer than usual and suggested signing up for its emergency alert system to stay up to date.
Of the 165 Whataburger locations in the larger Houston area, about half are open and running, Whataburger told USA TODAY Tuesday afternoon.
Almost all of the Texas locations still closed at that time were heavily concentrated around Houston, though social media users reported that some that showed as "open" on the map were closed or operating in a limited capacity despite seeming to have power.
Beryl, which began as the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, swept through the Caribbean last week before making landfall on the Texas coast early Monday. While it had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane by the time it arrived in the U.S., the storm still caused mass flooding, trapping people in their homes and cars, knocking out power amid a dangerous heatwave and killing at least eight in Texas and Louisiana.