The people of Hawaii had the most terrifying moment of their lives on Saturday morning, when an emergency alert text went out to every single cell phone in the state.
It said in all caps, quote, "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."
And apparently, CHAOS broke out. 911 was swamped with calls, the cell phone networks went down from everyone making calls, flights were grounded, and people were running and scrambling, hiding everywhere from bathtubs to storm drains.
But . . . thankfully, it was a false alarm. Thirty-eight minutes after that first text went out, another one was sent clarifying that it wasn't real. The official word is that an employee at the state's emergency management center pressed the wrong button.
Now Hawaii's officials are trying to figure out how this could happen . . . how to keep it from happening again . . . and how to regain people's trust in the emergency alerts if the unthinkable happens and North Korea really DOES launch a missile at Hawaii.
Photo: hawaiinewsnow.com