Erroneous tsunami alerts received across New England

BOSTON — People across New England reported receiving a tsunami warning Tuesday morning, but the National Weather Service stresses there is no threat.

“We have been receiving reports that an erroneous tsunami alert across New England,” NWS Boston tweeted. “Please note there is no tsunami threat for New England.”

Officials with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency told Boston 25 News that the test message was sent over the Emergency Alert System that was intended only to go to state warning points and certain other government agencies.

“This was a test tsunami warning,” MEMA said in a statement. “This warning did not go to the public via the Wireless Emergency Alert System, but some news and weather services picked up the test message and posted it on their apps and social media sites.”

MEMA said the message was posted to apps and social media, but in some cases it didn’t make it sufficiently clear that it was a test.

MEMA said it received calls from the public asking if there was an actual tsunami warning.

It wasn’t just the Boston area that was affected by the erroneous alerts. People from Maine to Houston reported receiving them.

"It was a test. It says 'test' in the headline. It says 'test' twice. It even says it in Spanish," Robert Molleda, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Miami office, told the Palm Beach Post.

He told the newspaper that the transmission was for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and that FEMA also mentioned it in its morning “roll call” of government partners.

Officials are working to determine what caused the test to be sent as a warning.

Cox Media Group