OLATHE, Kan. — A big mix up happened in Johnson County Wednesday night, as people got alerts for a tornado warning that was really meant for people living hundreds of miles away. Officials say a computer setting with its vendor is responsible.

Folks turned to social media looking for answers after getting an alert about a tornado warning in Johnson County.

Right county, but wrong state. The warning was for Johnson County, Texas. Everbridge is the vendor the county goes through for its ‘Notify JoCo’ alerts.

That notification went out to 18,000 people before the county was able to let residents know it was a mistake. When the warning was issued in Texas, the system setting error inadvertently sent it to metro subscribers.

“We received numerous calls and messages on social media. A lot of confusion with people. Some concern. A lot of people understanding that errors occur, but understanding what happened is our number one priority,” said Trent Pittman with Johnson County Emergency Management.

“Today was a rough day for this to occur, however, we`re working diligently to figure out what happened and to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

Emergency management says the county has used this system for three years now, and has never had a problem with it before. In the meantime, the county doesn`t  want people to lose confidence in using weather alerts, but also urges folks to use multiple ways in addition to message alerts to stay notified.