The restaurant chain is giving those affected by the storm a unique view into the storm's aftermath
Texans affected by Hurricane Beryl have found a novel way to stay up to date on one aspect of the storm’s damage. The Washington Post reports that a map of open Whataburger fast food locations in Houston has emerged as a shorthand for 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 on its way to the United States. It killed at least 11 people, crimped air traffic in the western Gulf Coast region, and threatened oil and gas facilities there. Communication from CenterPoint Energy $CNP, the city’s electricity utility, has been too slow for many of the more than 2 million people who lost power.
As a way of tracking progress, Houstonians are looking to the Whataburger app to see which restaurants fall where under an informal indicator system: locations that are orange during their usual business hours are presumed to have the lights on; locations that are grey are presumed to still be in the dark. The Whataburger system is reminiscent of the so-called “Waffle House Index,” which even the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses as a measure of weather-related havoc because the chain’s 24-hour diners only close during the most extreme circumstances following hurricanes and tornadoes, among other extreme events.
Ed Nelson, the CEO of Whataburger, has been eager to soak up the goodwill left by a dereliction of government duty. “Whataburger is that friend by your side in good times and bad,” he told local CBS affiliate KHOU earlier this week. “We’re glad the Whataburger app has been helpful to Houston residents to understand where power is available in the city.”
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