How a Texas man turned Whataburger into the state’s power outage tracker
Bryan Norton discovered that the Whataburger map could be used to show where power was still on or had been restored in Houston.

By María Luisa Paúl
July 11, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Hurricane Beryl had pummeled Southeast Texas on Monday, leaving millions in the Houston area without power. But with technical issues plaguing the tracker for the city’s main energy provider, there was no way to check the status of power outages — or find the still-lit pockets where residents could buy food, gas and other necessities.

Then Bryan Norton, a 55-year-old tech worker and podcast host, found help from an unlikely source: the Whataburger app. ... The app’s map showed where its restaurants — which have a massive presence across Houston — were still open. Instead of providing Texans with info about where they could snag burgers, biscuits and taquitos, Norton soon noticed the map could be used to gauge where power in the city was still on or had been restored.

His discovery went viral after he posted about it on social media, where thousands credited him with helping them find out if their loved ones had power or how they could escape the sweltering heat as temperatures and humidity levels soared. ... “The fact that Whataburger’s app is giving us that bit of hope — well, it doesn’t get more Texas than that,” Norton told The Washington Post.

Link to tweet

{snip}

It isn’t the first time a restaurant chain has been cited during storm emergencies. When disaster hits on the East Coast, even the Federal Emergency Management Agency is known to rely on what’s become known as the Waffle House Index to measure the severity of the situation. ... Like the Whataburger tracker, if a Waffle House location is red — meaning it’s closed — conditions are considered serious. ... Perhaps fittingly, one of the few places still operating near Thibodeaux’s Galveston properties was the Waffle House, she said.

By María Luisa Paúl
María Luisa Paúl is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She joined The Post as an intern on the General Assignment desk and has previously reported at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. Twitter https://twitter.com/@marialuisapaulr

One By One 8 minutes ago

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/new%20york

I call your attention to the "untracked" power companies.