On February 1, 2005, the Emergency Alert System was activated in portions of Connecticut calling for the immediate evacuation of the entire state.
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a public warning system in the United States that allows designated government authorities to suspend and preempt terrestrial radio and television broadcasts when needed to issue urgent public safety alerts.
[3] According to media reports, the message broadcast began, "civil authorities have issued an immediate evacuation order for all of Connecticut, beginning at 2:10 p.m. and ending at 3:10 p.m".
[4] Though some local police reportedly received calls from members of the public, the message "failed to set off a noticeable exodus into Massachusetts, Rhode Island or New York".
[3] A study conducted after the activation discovered that 11 percent of the state's residents had received the warning while it was being broadcast.