DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Cell phones blared to life at 4:45 a.m. ET Thursday with an emergency alert, rousing many Floridians from sleep.
But there was no actual emergency. The helpful message stated the system was just being checked out.
“This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required.”
Well, many people in the Twitter-verse thought some action might be required: like the firing of whoever decided to test the emergency alert system at 4:45 a.m.
Some said it was rude. And some used much stronger language. Many were wondering why run a test at 4:45 a.m.? What Florida man would do such a thing and why?
The test was a scheduled alert from the Florida Association of Broadcasters, which alternates alerts between 1:50 p.m. and 4:50 a.m. each month.
Besides a lot of grousing, the alert produced lots of memes on Twitter, some showed alarmed people being awoken from their slumber while others depicted angry people.
Weather forecast:40 million people under severe weather threat as thunderstorms, tornadoes possible in central US
Lost pet scams:How sharing Facebook post about lost pet could put you, friends at risk of scam