Hurricane Beryl’s shockingly strong landfall on the Texas coast knocked out power for over a million Texans, who are relying on a particularly unusual source for power updates—the fast food chain Whataburger’s mobile app.
Whataburger’s app is feeding Texans weather updates because the outage map by key provider CenterPoint Energy hasn’t worked since a wind storm hit the area in May, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Texans have a particularly wacky time weathering power outages because it’s the only state to have a power grid separate from the other major U.S. grid systems on the east and west coasts. Texans’ reliance on their geriatric power grid might be upended once more if a proposal from the Donald Trump-aligned policy making group, Project 2025, is implemented during Trump’s possible second term.
