Live in Connecticut? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!! No wait....

[conjur]

Connecticut Evacuation: False Alarm
http://www.ctnow.com/news/politics/hc-e...ines-politics-state&ctrack=2&cset=true

With a few errant keystrokes Tuesday, a state official generated the familiar tones of the emergency broadcast system and what may be the most startling message to ever crawl across the bottom of television screens in Connecticut:

"Civil authorities have issued an immediate evacuation order for all of Connecticut, beginning at 2:10 p.m. and ending at 3:10 p.m.":Q

The terse message sent viewers running for their telephones - police reported calls from the curious and the panicked - but it failed to set off a noticeable exodus into Massachusetts, Rhode Island or New York.

The sweeping scope and limited duration of the order led some residents to suspect that something was amiss.

"I figured what could be that grand that would make everybody in the state of Connecticut have to evacuate?" said Gordy Iler of West Simsbury, who nonetheless reassured himself with a call to police.

"I thought it was totally bizarre," said Corinne Greenshields of Mansfield, who returned home to find the message sliding across her TV. "If it was an evacuation, why would it be for an hour?"

Still, to be safe, she took two precautions: One, she called her resident state trooper, who was unaware of any impending disaster; and two, she looked out her window for evidence of an emergency.

She saw none.

The only real emergency was at the state Office of Emergency Management in Hartford. The director, Kerry Flaherty, immediately suspected that a hacker had issued the erroneous evacuation order.

But a red-faced subordinate quickly confessed to punching in the wrong code during the weekly test of the emergency broadcasting system. Officials sent out a fax to every police department in the state, informing them of a false alarm.

Flaherty said numeric codes for contingencies ranging from avalanches to volcanoes are read off a monitor and manually entered on a keypad.

As it happens, the code for evacuation is one line above the numbers for the weekly test. The officer simply read the wrong line, Flaherty said.

Flaherty declined to name the duty officer, who, he said, faces no disciplinary action.

"It was a mistake," he said.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered an investigation into the incident. Without any investigation, Flaherty said the evacuation code will be purged from the system.

The Emergency Alert System is composed of radio and television broadcasters. The system is voluntary, but its design and list of coded messages follow standards set by the federal government, said Wayne Mulligan, a WDRC-AM station manager.

"The crawl is generated automatically," Mulligan said.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the incident prompted mild joking in state agencies other than the Office Emergency Management.

Sgt. J. Paul Vance, the state police spokesman, told some reporters who tracked him down by telephone, "I'm in New York, where the heck are you?"

Can you say, DOH?

 

[Cristatus]

ROFL

 

[MrChad]

:laugh:

 

[maziwanka]

hahahahahahahahaha. day off of work.

 

[Aharami]

yea we were just talking about this at work. my company's HQ is in Hartford and some employees left for the day when they read the broadcast. haha...free day off

 

[gigapet]

my question is:

if this really were to happen the entire state would become gridlock. Our only major highway 91/95 would be deemed useless as day to day activities lock it up tight without an evacuation. The merrit parkway(rt.15) is two lanes and is also clogged on a day to day basis. 84 is also clogged and is only two lanes south of hartford.

In other words if CT ever has to evacuate.....we'll be fvked. We have the saddest excuse for highway infrastructure ever.

 

[Nitemare]

Yeah, I don't think it would be possible to leave Connecticut in an hour, specially rush hour.

 

[xXped0thugXx]

Especially with an emergency such as this one, no one would be able to get out.


Id just sit on my couch waiting for death drinking myself stupid(more so than I already do)

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
Yeah, I don't think it would be possible to leave Connecticut in an hour, specially rush hour.

Just get yourself one of these

 

[Argo]

I can see this:

Guy 1: So what does this red button do?
Guy 2: Don't touch the red button!!!
Guy 1: This one? Why? <pushes the button>

 

[Led Zeppelin]

ROFL! I wonder how long before Rell called and demanded that person be fired.

"Governer Rell is mad as hell!"

 

[TitanDiddly]

'Oops'

 

[rh71]

i need to buy a boat...