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Panicked Waihī Beach residents evacuated on Sunday night, believing there was a tsunami warning, after a wave of sirens sounded across the Bay of Plenty.
Civil Defence and Waikato police later confirmed there was no tsunami warning for the area and said the sirens were a false alarm.
UPDATE: Following reports of sirens going off at fire stations across Western Bay of Plenty this evening we touched...
Civil Defence later sent a text out to those in the area that Fire and Emergency had reported a fault in their siren system.
Civil Defence quickly issued a text to those in the area, saying that Fire and Emergency New Zealand had reported a fault in their siren system. Photo / Supplied
An evacuee told the Herald she and her family were staying at Waihī Beach when an alarm began to ring out.
"A siren started and we were wondering what it was, and then someone on loud speakers said we needed to evacuate as there was a tsunami," she said.
Sirens were also heard in Mount Maunganui, Te Puke and Ōmokoroa.
Waihi Beach was mistakenly evacuated this evening. Photo / George Novak
Waikato police said they were aware sirens were ringing across the east coast of the North Island.
Witnesses said cars filled with panicked people were streaming out of Waihi Beach and local Facebook group pages were flooded with concerned comments.
That was a bit alarming. Tsunami siren going off here and apparently Waihī Beach as well, but no text warning from Civil Defence. No tsunami (fortunately) but Facey pages getting anxious.
