Zombie warning issued in Florida city during power outage, city apologizes for mistake

Residents in Lake Worth, Fla., received an alarming message during a power outage Sunday, warning people to be on the lookout for zombies.

More than 7,000 customers received a message during the outage saying they lost power due to “extreme zombie activity,” according to local media.

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The alert also made a reference to “Terminus,” a location in the zombie TV show, The Walking Dead.

“Power outage and zombie alert for residents of Lake Worth and Terminus. There are now far less than seven thousand three hundred and eight customers involved due to extreme zombie activity. Restoration time uncertain,” the alert read.

City spokesman Ben Kerr later posted on Facebook that there wasn’t a zombie invasion.

“We are looking into the reports that the system mentioned zombies, I want to reiterate that Lake Worth does not have any zombie activity currently and apologize for the system message,” Kerr stated.

City officials told ABC affiliate WPBF, that an alert is automatically sent during power outages. Officials said the zombie message may have been hacked.

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In April, a fake nuclear attack warning was broadcasted to residents in Winnipeg. Police said the cryptic message turned out to be a prank that was taken from an online video.

In January, a false emergency alert warning was sent to Hawaii residents, which told people that a ballistic missile was headed towards the U.S. state.

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Hawaii officials later apologized repeatedly and said the alert was sent when someone hit the wrong button during a shift change.

Canada launched an “Alert Ready” program at the beginning of May, which sounds an alarm on LTE-connected smartphones during a crisis. During the test rollout, there were glitches and some users did not receive any warning or got it minutes later.