A few weeks ago, we reported that there was a false missile warning sent out to Hawaiians stating that there was a missile headed for the state. It appears that there’s been another mistaken alert sent out into the world.
Earlier this morning, an emergency tsunami alert was sent out to East Coast residents vita he widely-used Accuweather service. Various tweets have said that the alert stretched as far north as Portland, Maine. Under pressure, Accuweather confirmed in a tweet that the original alert was rather a “test,” though the alert itself doesn’t appear to present itself in “test” form.
The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning this morning was a TEST. No Tsunami warning is in effect for the East Coast of the U.S.
— AccuWeather (@breakingweather) February 6, 2018
It’s interesting Accuweather states that the alert was a test, but the notification that hit people’s screens showed it wasn’t a test, rather far from it. This, understandable, caused alarm to those that received it. Since the alert was sent out, various national weather service Twitter accounts have confirmed that there’s no tsunami warning in effect, including the official NWS tsunami alerts account. Take a look:
The National Tsunami Warning Center did NOT issue a tsunami Warning, Watch, or Advisory for any part of the United States or Canada this morning.
— NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) February 6, 2018
As of right now, there’s still no information on how the alert was sent out and why it was sent out. What’s more ironic is that this morning, there’s a congressional hearing on the effectiveness of mobile alerts in emergencies. Needless to say, officials are going to have some interesting conversations on how the alert system needs to be overhauled and tightened up.
