Florida Apologizes for Errant Wake-Up Call

Many Floridians were not pleased at being awakened at 4:45am Thursday by an emergency text alert, especially when there was no emergency, and state officials have promised to do something about it. The text was a test—as it said—intended to appear on TV, not on cellphones, ABC News reports. The state Division of Emergency Management has apologized for the screeching alarm, saying the plan wasn't to "disturb anyone already sleeping," per the New York Times. "We are taking the appropriate action to remove the company responsible for submitting the alert this morning," the agency said in a statement.

Where more than one cellphone was present and turned on, the alerts caused a racket. Residents posted complaints on social media showing screenshots reading, "No action required." St. Lucie County officials said the alert went to "every wireless subscriber" in Florida. Federal Communications Commission data shows that's more than 22.8 million, per the Times. In a tweet, Gov. Ron DeSantis promised "swift accountability" for the mistake. "This was a completely inappropriate use of this system," DeSantis posted. (More Florida stories.)