Fast food App Helps Track Hurricane Power Outages

To quote from a news report out of Texas:

Texas fast-food staple Whataburger is serving more than burgers in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.

Instead of ordering food, folks are using the San Antonio-based burger chain's app to track power outages in the Houston area.

On Monday, Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast as a strong Category 1 storm, flooding Houston-area highways and knocking out power to nearly 3 million residents, according to the Associated Press.

Although the website of Houston-based utility CenterPoint Energy includes data on the number of customers without power — 1.7 million as of press time — the site doesn't provide a map showing which service areas are affected by the outage.

That's where the Whataburger app comes in. Using the app, users can tell which parts of Houston have power and which neighborhoods are in the dark by checking out what Whataburger locations are open for business. Assuming they have power, the chain's restaurants run 24 hours.

The clever hack was discovered by X user @BBQBryan, who shared it Monday evening with other users of the social media platform.