Shoulda seen the look on your face though

That whole emergency alert about the volcano blowing up and threatening the Puyallup Valley? Just kidding.

False alarm: Radio broadcasts mistaken mudflow warning

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TACOMA, Wash. -- An emergency radio station mistakenly warned that a massive, volcanic-caused mudflow was headed from the flanks of Mount Rainier and that listeners in the valley below should rush to higher ground.

The emergency lahar warning was broadcast Wednesday for nearly an hour on the 1580 AM frequency in the suburban Pierce County town of Puyallup. Some listeners said they were horrified.

...

"It kept repeating, 'This is not a test,'" she said.

...

Emergency officials in communities around Mount Rainier routinely test the system that would, in the event of a real lahar from the volcano, activate 24 sirens around the valley and broadcast a radio alert. But on Wednesday, 1580 AM picked up the test signal as real and said the lahar was coming.

I had to look it up too. A lahar is a mudflow from a volcano.

Anyway, glad to see the false alarm only went out on one AM station rather than sending up the full alert. Kind of makes you wonder about living in the Puyallup Valley though, what with there being an alert all set up for a Mount Rainier explosion and everything.