Washington  –   A national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System scheduled for this Thursday, September 20,  has been postponed.

Federal Emergency Management Agency  (FEMA) officials report that the test was rescheduled because of the ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence on the east coast. It will now be held October, 3.

Plans call for the test to be the first to utilize the Wireless Emergency Alert system that would send a text message to every compatible cellphone in the United States and the Emergency Alert System which utilizes radio and television broadcasts to convey an emergency message to the public.