Donald Trump will soon be blowing up your cell phone in a first ever test of a national presidential alert system.
The system is reserved for extreme situations such as a terrorist attack, missile launch or tsunami. Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be sending a test message alert to most cell phones across the country.
"If we have something that's of national significance, we can rapidly notify the American public of that event," FEMA spokesman Antwane Johnson said.
You can expect to see the alert pop up on your phone at 1:18 p.m., New Orleans time. It will have the header "Presidential Alert" with the message, "This is a test of the national Wireless Emergency Alert system. No action is needed."
It's one of three kinds of alerts in FEMA's WEA system.
It can also notify the public about extreme weather or missing children, also known as Amber Alerts.
New Orleans Homeland Security Director Colin Arnold told WWL-TV, the city is set up to use the system locally, if needed.
"Something, no notice, that we need to reach a lot of people in a short period of time," Arnold said. "Like a major hurricane, evacuation, any kind of hazardous spills or chemical release or anything along the river that might happen."
Trooper Dustin Dwight from the Louisiana State Police maintains the state has a strict protocol for when the system can be used.
"We're not going to put it out there unless it's an emergency, unless it's vitally important that someone see that information and maybe they can make a difference in protecting themselves or rescue somebody else," Dwight said.
Wireless providers ping the alert message to any phone on a given cell tower or group of towers in a geographical area.
"If it's something that we think may need to be statewide, disseminated statewide, we have the ability to push that button as well," Trooper Dwight said.
"We could also break it down to a neighborhood, to a zip code, down to about a city block if we had to," Arnold said.
Wednesday, FEMA will also run a test of its emergency alert system for radio and television broadcasters, beginning two minutes after the WEA test.
Paul Murphy can be reached at pmurphy@wwltv.com.