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Bureau of Meteorology apologises after test tsunami warning sent to app users

The Bureau of Meteorology has apologised after a test alert of its tsunami warning system caused confusion.

The Bureau of Meteorology has mistakenly issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Queensland coastline.
The Bureau of Meteorology has mistakenly issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Queensland coastline.

The Bureau of Meteorology has apologised after a test alert of its new tsunami warning caused confusion in parts of Queensland.

The alert was issued as part of BOM’s new tsunami warning system at 11.36am Wednesday and deleted just two minutes later.

It stated that a marine tsunami warning was in place for the South East Queensland coastline from north of Brisbane to the Gold Coast due to “an undersea earthquake magnitude 8.2” off the west coast of New Zealand.

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The test alert. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology
The test alert. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology

“For the marine environment from Cape Moreton to Point Danger including Gold Coast Waters there is the possibility of dangerous rips, waves and strong ocean currents and some localised overflow onto the immediate foreshore commencing after 1.15pm and persisting for several hours,” the test alert read.

“While evacuations are not necessary for Marine Threat area, people in these areas are advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge.”

A Bureau spokeswoman said the alert was a test sent to BOM Weather app users at various Australian locations and was cancelled immediately after it was issued.

The spokeswoman apologised for any confusion it caused.

“Testing is important to help the Bureau and partners prepare and plan for real tsunami threat,” she said

Originally published as Bureau of Meteorology apologises after test tsunami warning sent to app users

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Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/news/queensland/two-minutes-of-panic-as-bom-mistakenly-issues-tsunami-warning-for-qld/news-story/c8c7610dc77eb021997b7b6d6c04b61f