Television broadcasts in Southern California were interrupted late Thursday morning with an end-of-the-world prediction, startling viewers and setting off a firestorm on social media.

Erin Mireles told the Orange County Register that she was watching Bravo on Spectrum when the alert appeared.

“I was definitely startled, ’cause the volume increased exponentially,” she said. “I wasn’t alarmed in the sense of thinking something was wrong, ’cause I assumed it was some sort of hack,” she said.

A man’s voice could reportedly be heard saying: “Realize this, extremely violent times will come.”

One person said the voice sounded like Hitler.

A spokesman for Cox Communications told the paper that the problem occurred because one or more radio stations conducted an emergency test.

“With these tests, an emergency tone is sent out to initiate the test,” Joe Camero told the paper. “After the tone is transmitted, another tone is sent to end the message. It appears that the radio station (or stations) did not transmit the end tone to complete the test.”

The report said it was unclear if the alert had anything to do with the Christian numerologist who recently claimed the world will end Saturday when a planet will, supposedly, collide with Earth.

According to Christian numerologist David Meade, verses in Luke 21:25 to 26 signify that recent events, such as the recent solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, portend the apocalypse.

The verses read:

“25: There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'

"'26: Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.'

Saturday's date, Sept. 23 was pinpointed using codes from the Bible, as well as a "date marker" in the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Meade's views are not endorsed by Roman Catholic, Protestant or eastern Orthodox branches of Christianity.