A national test for Wireless Emergency Alert and Emergency Alert System capabilities will take place Wednesday afternoon.
FEMA and the FCC will jointly conduct the nationwide test to assess if the infrastructure is ready to distribute a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.
The Wireless Emergency Alert test message will be sent to cell phones that are connected to participating wireless providers at 1:18 PM Central Time. It'll have a header that reads "Presidential Alert" and text that says: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed." It will last for about 30 minutes.
The EAS portion follows at 1:20 PM and will last for one minute. It'll be similar to regular monthly EAS test messages.
The test was originally planned for September 20th, but was postponed due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence.
