Not only is this not the first time the government has screwed up a warning system, but it hasn’t even been a month since that last major screw up prompted widespread fear.
A “misleading tsunami warning” test alert caused a panic when it was sent to the smartphones of thousands of people across the United States early Tuesday morning. The test message was issued in cities from New York to Texas by the National Tsunami Warning Center and Accuweather.
The problem, however, stemmed from the fact that the “test” wasn’t clearly labeled as a “test warning” in the notification. Many people who checked their phones upon waking up took to social media in a confused panic, worried that a tsunami was going to strike at any moment. But this is far from the first time the government has proven themselves incompetent when administering warnings of any type or magnitude.
Within about 30 minutes of the initial warning, though, National Weather Service Twitter accounts across the country issued alerts to ensure the public that the initial warning was just a test. And NWS New Orleans promptly told people not to panic.
There are currently NO tsunmai warnings in effect for the Gulf Coast. If you received a tsunami warning from a 3rd party app this morning, it was in error. #lawx #mswx
— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) February 6, 2018
“We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual tsunami warning,” the NWS in Caribou, Maine, tweeted at around 9 am.
“A tsunami warning is not in effect. Repeat, a tsunami warning is not in effect.” Accounts in cities such as New York, Tampa, New Orleans, Charleston, and Houston quickly followed suit. AccuWeather also issued a tweet that covered all of the Eastern Seaboard, ensuring that the warning was just a test. “The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning this morning was a TEST. No Tsunami warning is in effect for the East Coast of the US,” the tweet read.
But, what really got people worried, was that many of those accounts also wrote “please retweet” in their messages. That alone prompted others to believe that the warnings were real. But it also led some to the conclusion that the government was desperate to rectify the misleading tweets and maintain any sort of trust with the public. Others thought it was simply a quick way to prevent any further confusion or panic. Unfortunately, the social media message clarifying the situation was a little too late…
“I’m 2 old to be getting a false #tsunami warning alert on my phone,’ one Twitter user wrote at the conclusion of the ordeal. When I tell you my legs turned to jelly, I hyperventilated and almost passed out? Child please. Getting any type of work done is cancelled. I need to go home to recuperate cuz I’m not built for this kinda s***.'” –The Daily Mail
The warning also had some wondering if there is an issue with the warning alert system in the United States. Afterall, a false ballistic missile warning was sent to the smartphones of people in Hawaii last month. “First a fake missile launch warning in Hawaii and now a fake tsunami warning on the east coast? Somebody is hacking into the american warning systems,” one Twitter user wrote.
Major panic was caused on January 13, 2018, when a false nuclear missile alert was sent to all smartphones in Hawaii. The US official apparently sent out the message during a state-wide test because he genuinely believed they were under attack. “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the alert read. It took the state 38 minutes to become aware of the blunder and issue a redaction.
But the Japanese have also epically failed to provide accurate tests and warnings to the public.
Yep saw the warning on my phone and ran to the beach to see what the hell was going on. Coastal South Carolina here. Checked the weather channel and there was a brief statement says : Only a Test .
haha
Thank goodness I still have my old flip phone and don’t need to get all that BS. My wife and kids constantly tell me I need to upgrade and I just laugh at them while their bobbleheads wobble as they play their games on their phones.
Same here. Turned the TV on and weatherman said no wave. Guess I can still go fishing today.
hey Buckeye, what area of the low country ?
CHS.
MB here
WE ARE IN DEEP SHIT IF THERE IS EVER A REAL EMERGENCY
that’s the plan. . . . . .
Enough ‘chicken little’/’boy who cried wolf’ warnings and it’ll pretty much guarantee that no one pays the slightest attention to any warning. It’ll be like hearing a car alarm going off in a K-Mart parking lot. No one cares, just finds it annoying. I’d say TPTB’s plans are coming along nicely.
We give warning out all the time, and most of the time people just look at you like, What do I do I’m not prepared. Sucks to be them!
This is one nice thing about being a Prepper. I’m prepared for lots and lots of things.
Sgt.
They fire off test warnings of Tsunamis at the first of the month, every month here. They recently added Nuke warnings.
I used to live in an area that flooded every year.
so I’m used to water running down the street.
My daughter and her husband would move all their possessions
to my shop every year to avoid the flood.
I’m pretty well high water prepared.
Floods are scary, as are Tsunamis.
Trick is to get a Topo of where you want to live,
and plan for escapes.
Plan A, B, C, D et al.
Great advice again “relik”. When my wife and I did our last scuba dive, we had just opened the pressure valves to our regulators when one of those damn tsunami sirens went off. It was 30′ away and so loud it scrambled our brains. We turned the pressure valve off, bled the air, and the screaming siren continued. You should have seen the dumb look on our faces when we finally figured out the scuba tanks were not causing the noise.
Tsunami warning! America has been flooded with immigrants from the third world. Get to high ground. And then use it!
Hard to believe anyone’s first response was to check on social media if they were panicking. Those people would be the first to die. At least the national IQ would increase.
My thought also. People get alerts for tsunamis and incoming ballistic missiles and their response is to start tweeting and facebooking? Instead of trying to take some lifesaving action?
Travis..This is the typical reaction from people that are addicted and dependent on modern technology such as social media and cellphones..Instead of taking precautionary measures and using critical thinking skills,they turn to social media and their precious cellphone for what to do..I’ve said for years that mass panic would ensue if cellphones were rendered inoperable for an extended period of time because people wouldn’t know how to think or occupy their time because they’ve become so addicted and dependent on their phone for daily survival..
When it’s the real thing some people will unfortunately ignore the warning, adding to the death toll. That’s part of the plan, along with creating distractions and keeping us in a state of fear. Distracted people don’t notice the obvious and fearful people can’t think straight. Evil people are very clever.
The local sheriff’s dept put out a notice that the tsunami warning was not real.
Must be the Hawaii missile alert guy on his new job.
Yeah they moved him only twenty feet down the corridor from where he used to sit.
Well, no notice like that came to Metro DC. However, this area is deep in another kind of stuff. There’s no text warning for that.
SUN SPOTS !!!! LOL 🙂
Americans are right where the government wants them. We are living in fear. Of course being government-educated-stupid doesn’t help.
We have Code red,blue ,purple and white alarms going off at the hospital I work at all day long . I just put on my earmuffs. If I see smoke ,someone on fire ,or hear shooting I will react. Most others are just as complacent.
Government testing to see how people will react when Government’s real clampdown occurs. Government will swallow a hard lump when their “test” turns out to have a real reaction from the people when the people put Government out of their misery.