Emergency alert sent by mistake

A double error from the state Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division led to confusion and concern in Floodwood, Moose Lake and several other communities in the region when they got messages to evacuate Wednesday.

HSEM tests its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System weekly, but the message was distributed beyond the test environment. Further complicating the situation, the portion of the message saying “this is a test” was cut off. Communities in several counties received the message. There is no evacuation order in place, nor any reason to do so.