Florida city sends 'zombie alert' during power blackout

Residents in a Florida town were concerned after a mass ‘zombie alert’ text was sent out during a power outage in the middle of the night.

The bizarre push alert message was sent from the City of Lake Worth in Florida around 1.45am on Sunday in the midst of a power blackout.

It read: “Power outage and zombie alert for residents of Lake Worth and Terminus.

“There are now far less than 7,380 customers involved due to extreme zombie activity. Restoration time uncertain.”

Local media outlet Palm Beach Post reported the mention of ‘Terminus’ was potentially referencing the city in the popular zombie TV show, The Walking Dead.

It reported a post on a community Facebook page had indicated the zombie apocalypse message was unintended.

“We are looking into reports that the system mentioned zombies,” wrote city public information officer Ben Kerr.

“I want to reiterate that Lake Worth does not have any zombie activity currently and apologize for the system message.”

Kerr went on to say 7,880 customers had been affected by the outage and that power was restored within 27 minutes.

On Tuesday city officials said someone might have hacked their alert system as a prank, though they aren’t sure who or how.

The mass text alert was not the first of its kind to leave recipients confused.

In January, a message warning of an imminent ballistic missile threat to Hawaii was also sent in error, terrifying residents who began saying their goodbyes to loved ones.

In February, the U.S National Weather Service sent out a ‘test’ notice to practice warning weather outlets about tsunamis, which some recipients believed to be true and posted alerts to their customers.