NEWS: Emergency Broadcast Test Mistakenly Calls for the Evacuation of Connecticut

A routine test of the Connecticut emergency broadcast system caused alarm when it informed listeners that the state was being evacuated. Officials believe that the wrong button was pressed resulting in the broadcast. The governor issued a statement to reassure the citizens of the state.




Its almost like a war of the worlds thing. I wonder if anybody did panic upon hearing the news. We had reports 4-5 months ago here on ATS of strange Emergency Broadcast System messages. I wonder if that was the case at that time too?

I don't know whats more disturbing; the fact that there is a button for giving notice to evacuate the state of CT or that someone actually was dumb enough to push it instead of the button to test the system. We can only pray the screening process for those who man our ICBMs is tough enough to keep the nose-breathers such as the person in this case out of the nuclear services.

We can only pray the screening process for those who man our ICBMs is tough enough to keep the nose-breathers such as the person in this case out of the nuclear services.

LOL, apprently not since the president has a fair amount of control over it.

[edit on 2/1/2005 by silver0bullets]

I would of totally freaked out if I heard the emergency broadcast system announce that in my state......... I would of probably gathered up all my militia gear and called up my militia brothers, we would hunker down in our secret underground bunker and wait for the big one... lol.

Perhaps they were testing how much paranoia was present to see how the populace would react? Yes, I believe it is to prepare the gov for martial law, or the opening up about aliens - that could be it.

Oh, The Humanity!

In the most bitter of ironies, I have been calling for the evacuation of Connecticut for over ten years now, but no one listened.

Now, on the evening of my life's greatest triumph, they tell me it was all just a mistake.

Mistake? I say "Nay Nay!" It's a conspiracy, and the people of Connecticut are the ones being fooled!

Liars! I will be vindicated, you will see! Mark my words, Connecticut!


P.S. And when the hell is the VA going to finally take that alien implant out of my brain? There's only so much a decorated veteran of the Psychic Wars can take, I tells ya.

[edit on 2/1/2005 by Majic]

I remeber back in the mid eighties, during the cold war, a kid, who was a little older than me, broke into the local reserve depot and stole a truck. He then decided to pick up his buddies, get high, and drive around neighborhoods screaming through the trucks loud speaker that the bombs were on their way. He hit about four blocks, screaming run for your lives, before the police caught up with him. He was instantly worshipped by 13 year old boys all around our city.

What if soon they call for a real evacuation and nobody evacuates thinking its another mishap?

Pushed the wrong button huh? That just doesn't sound right guys. I have worked a little in television and radio locally, though primarily as an actor and voice talent, but to my understanding The Emergency Broadcast System tests they run are a 'button' kind of thing, they send a signal and it is broadcast to the media outlets in accordance with federal law, but an actual warning, like an evacuation order, IS NOT a button kind of thing. Warnings aren't keyed up ready for broadcast, they are individually created and issued. As my understanding of the system goes, there's no way a 'wrong' button push leads to an evacuation order on the system without being initiated intentionally. Perhaps there was some other tests in progress and somebody got their signals crossed eh? Something's up if they are trying to pass it off as this wrong button bologna.


Edit: Added emphasis

[edit on 2-2-2005 by twitchy]

Originally posted by alternateheaven
................ keep the nose-breathers such as the person............

You mean Mouth breathers don't you?

I wouldn't be suprised if this was a test, to see how people reacted. Not for martial law or the NWO or anything, but just a test of responses to a major event. I'd rather they get the info now and prepare, than get caught with their pants down when the real # hits the fan.

I'm jumping on the 'test for something else' bandwagon.

Really, evacuate the entire state of connecticut?

To where?

I mean, when you evacuate florida, highways jam and people know "North" or "not-grounded Plane-to-elsewhere".

In Connecticut though? It'd be chaos. "South! West! NORTH! East! *East gets smacked* DOWN-no, UP!"

- Really, I'm pretty sure that this isn't a female computer-voice thing that says "What state would you like to evacuate today?" When you type 'login'.

This is the kind of thing that a team of 20-30 people get a team of 2-3 people to make, and send to about 10 different stations where around 5 people will likely see it before it is aired.

If that many people, or even some far less complex number, say, along the lines of two people are hitting the same wrong button, then something is up.

While I doubt it's the revelation of alien contact (Though, honestly, that would be welcomed quite nicely by some of us) - I think it could very well be a preparation to see either what happens if the government ever needs to go that far, or, just, to see how far they can push it before people start asking questions.

If this gets by, they're in the clear. If the popular media goes on relatively unnoticing and if there isn't a major inquiry as to how a state can be accidentally evacuated- then this is it folks. They've passed the barriers they need to, and they can just freely do whatever they want.

If you can accidentally evacuate a state, you can at any time cordon off sections of cities. I mean, major government events do it all the time, right?

If you can accidentally evacuate a state, you can force everyone out of a town until further notice, and tell them it's a matter of national security they keep quiet, so you have to hold them, and you can legally detain them all as possible suspected terrorists in the threat perceived towards the town.

I'm not saying it will happen - just that the door's been unlocking for a number of years, and something like this is just enough to get it ajar.

Either we're being readied for something, or the government and media is in a far, FAR worse state than ANYONE could ever have imagined - either way, we're boned, and we've got to ask, "what next?".

[edit on 2-2-2005 by Viendin]

I could see CT being evacuated or Maine, Nevada with its low population density. Texas, California, and say NY City?? Forget it, to may people and you could never do it in a timely manner.

What good is a "run for the hills" panic spreading message if there are no hills nearby ???

Clearly the need to spread messages on sector-by sector basis and even on peoples cellphones to provide individual evacuation plans and escape routes. One should built in little delays to have the people near the borders of connecticut run first, so they don't clog up the highways for the stampede coming from the center, etc etc.

People should be told WHERE to run to , direxted towards a shelter or highway out of the state .....

Anyone have a clue under what circumstances an entire State would get evacuated? This sounds insane, and not really possible. I could see an area of the State, but what would it take that was so huge a whole State is told to leave? Then, where do they go?

Wouldn't mobilizing an entire state create a worse situation than whatever the warning was for? A state full of dead ducks trapped on the highways is all I see if an attampt we made to evacuate it. Are there really even warnings that would do such a thing?

Didn't they evacuate Florida one year? And I can see them evacuating in a war.

But Connecticut is surrounded by other States. How could you evecuate Connecticut and not have the evacuation event contained by it's borders.

I am unaware of an entire evacuation of Florida, but I could be wrong on that. Even in the hurricanes, it was only the coastal regions that actually got evacuated. Anyone correct me if I am wrong.

I was once stuck in the same place on I-95 for close to 5 hours due to a 'minor' traffic snarl up near the Gold Star Bridge. I wonder what full scale evacuation would look like?

Another possibility is that the evacuation was only meant for certain people. The official cover story serves to placate the people while ______ (elected officials, terrorists, hackers, foreign inteligence agents, CIA, FBI, FEMA resources, militia, Jews, whoever your personal boogey man is, fill in the blank) gets the hell out of dodge. I can imagine this type of scenario if, for example, a major scandal was about to break, a natural event was predicted, a market crash was on the horizon, a nuclear war appeared inevitable to the power brokers (many/most of whom live in CT), there are surely thousands of scenarios in which one group of people would want to alert its constituency without sharing that knowledge with the general public.

Could this have anything to do with the strange occurences brought up by other members regarding short wave radio? I recall a post a couple of days ago about a severe, persistent loss of bounce along with a general, unidentifiable interference. I don't think the feds monitor the low freqs. and I've heard talk of terrorist chatter dropping off the radar, perhaps they are using older, less monitored methods of communication.

Of course, I can totally believe somebody 'pushed the wrong button' (inserted the wrong tape, qued the wrong file, lit the incorrect signal lamps..) - it was probably one of my cousins or something..heh..spilled his coffee on the board.

not being american, i consulted a map of the US to see where Connecticut is located. Strangely enough, it is the state right next door to New Jersey, where a plane just crashed into a building. hmmmm

Originally posted by justyc
not being american, i consulted a map of the US to see where Connecticut is located. Strangely enough, it is the state right next door to New Jersey, where a plane just crashed into a building. hmmmm

It's not really right next to New Jersey, my state, New York, separates them quite nicely.