National Weather Service sends out false tsunami warning to East Coast

Residents along the East Coast received a false tsunami warning on Tuesday morning after a monthly test was issued by the National Weather Service Tsunami Alerts.

A tweet from the National Weather Service in Charleston, South Carolina, said the alert was sent around 8:30 a.m. ET.

"We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual Tsunami Warning," the NWS tweeted, adding that a tsunami warning was "not in effect."

The NWS New York, NY, Twitter account wrote around 9 a.m. ET that the service was investigating how the alert, which reportedly said the word "test," was sent out.

"A Tsunami Test was conducted earlier this morning, that did have TEST in the message. We are currently trying to find out how a message went out as a warning. We will update you when we find out more," the tweet said.

The push notification sent to phones in South Carolina was reportedly sent by the AccuWeather app, according to the Post and Courier.

However, some screenshots showed an alert from the AccuWeather app that did not include the word "test."

AccuWeather also tweeted that the notification was a test, not an actual warning.

"The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning this morning was a TEST. No Tsunami warning is in effect for the East Coast of the U.S.," the tweet said.

It was not immediately clear how many people received the warning. A spokeswoman for the National Weather Service did not immediately comment.

Similar reports were also made in Boston, Miami and Houston.

The false alarm is reminiscent of the incorrect alert sent out last month warning of an imminent missile attack in Hawaii.

The mistake sparked panic on Jan. 13, sending Hawaii residents scrambling for shelter amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea over the regime's nuclear ambitions.