The National Weather Service accidentally sent out a false-alarm tsunami warning to residents of the East Coast this morning.
Users of weather services received a message suggesting that there was a tsunami warning in place from 8.30 a.m. ET. But in fact there was no report of earthquake activity.
The NWS has confirmed in a tweet that the alert was supposed to be a test, but that the word “test” was missing from the message.
Meteorologist Hendricus Lulofs told the Herald Tribune that a glitch during a routine test meant “some people received what looked like an actual warning on their phones”.
The false alarm follows a terrifying missile alert for Hawaii last month. The alert warned residents to seek shelter and read, “THIS IS NOT A DRILL”.