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Team Trump has postponed plans to send a message to the country's cell phones to test an unused presidential warning system that aims to warn the public of national emergencies, officials said Monday.
The test message was initially scheduled at 14:18. New York weather Thursday, but is postponed at the same time on October 3 because of the ongoing response to Hurricane Florence, FEMA said in a statement.
Florence on Friday criticized North Carolina as a hurricane and caused widespread flooding in the Carolinas.
FEMA, which will send the alert, said last week that the messages would carry the title "Presidential Alert" and that the phones would emit a loud sound and emit a particular vibration.
The test was scheduled to ensure that the alert system would work in the event of a national emergency and that cell phone users could not retreat.
The message reads: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is necessary. "
Former President Obama signed a law in 2016 asking FEMA to create a system allowing the president to send mobile phone alerts regarding public safety emergencies.
The country's wireless emergency alert system was launched in 2012 and has released more than 36,000 alerts for situations such as missing children, extreme weather and natural disasters, but never a presidential directive.
Mobile phone users can disable natural disaster alerts or missing children.
In its statement last week on the test messages, FEMA said that presidential alerts can only be used for national emergencies and that the president is solely responsible for determining when such alerts are used.
With Reuters
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