Cell phones across the nation received a “Presidential Alert” Tuesday afternoon as part of a national Emergency Action System test. It was the first time the test included cell phone alerts that are similar to the ones you receive for Amber Alerts or dangerous weather situations.

Phones equipped for the Wireless Emergency Alert system received the messages if that option had been turned on and if the phone was near an active cell tower that provide WEA messages.

The nationwide alert hear on radio and television broadcasts, cable systems, satellite radios, television providers, and wireline video providers had similar tones at the beginning of the test and follwed with this message:

"This is a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators under voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar Wireless Emergency Alert test message has been sent to all cell phones nationwide. Some cell phones will receive the messge; others will not. No action is required."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says that the Emergency Action System provides the President with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency. FEMA says the dual test helped asses the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and that it determined whether improvements were needed to the EAS and WEA systems.

The test for this year was originally scheduled for September 20 but it was postponed because of the need to respond to hurricane Florence.