OOPS: Mistaken Tsunami Warning Causes Carolina Chaos

MOREHEAD CITY – Just recently Hawaii was subjected to a mistakenly issued ‘incoming missile’ warning that caused residents to say their last prayers and kiss their tail goodbye. Tuesday morning a similar confusion briefly caused panic here in North Carolina and all along the East Coast, albeit from a threat of a different nature.

“A tsunami warning test done at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday for some spots on the east coast was apparently mistaken by some as the real thing.

The National Weather Service based in Newport/Morehead City issued a tweet shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday assuring coastal residents in Virginia and North Carolina that a massive tidal wave was not headed their way. Reports of the mistaken warnings have been reported from New England to Miami.

“We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual Tsunami Warning. A Tsunami Warning is not in effect. Repeat, a Tsunami Warning is not in effect,” said a tweet from the weather service office based in Newport/Morehead City.

The National Weather Service added a clarification later that explained “some third party (phone) applications picked up the monthly test as a warning.”

Please RT: A monthly Tsunami Warning test was issued around 830 am by @NWS_NTWC . We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual Tsunami Warning. A Tsunami Warning is not in effect. Repeat, a Tsunami Warning is not in effect.

— NWS Newport/Morehead (@NWSMoreheadCity) February 6, 2018

“I freaked out, won’t lie!” said Britnee St. Clair of Jacksonville, N.C., in a tweet. “I received a warning, had a mini heart attack…Opened it and started trying to figure it out to find it was a test!”

“Mass hysteria here in Charleston,” tweeted a nurse in South Carolina.

“So was this an accident or should I go buy a boat within the next twenty minutes?” Tim Lennox of Quincy, Massachusetts, tweeted after getting the warning.”

Whoops!