People on the East Coast of the United States received a push alert on their phones warning about a possible tsunami – only for it to be revealed as a false alarm.

A glitch meant some people received what looked like an actual warning, NWS meteorologist Hendricus Lulofs said.

​He said the National Weather Service is trying to get to the bottom of what happened.

The false alerts, intended to be a test message, appeared to have been sent by the private forecasting company AccuWeather, according to images posted on social media by people who said they had received them.

National Weather Service offices in the region used social media to spread the word there was no tsunami warning.

The false alert comes less than a month after a ballistic missile attack warning was mistakenly sent to residents of Hawaii, sparking panic.

The state employee who sent the alert has said he was "100 per cent sure" at the time the attack was real.

Video shows false emergency alert warning of a ballistic missile in Hawaii

Days later, Japan's national broadcaster NHK apologised for sending out a false alert claiming North Korea had launched a ballistic missile.

Earlier this month, residents of the West Coast were warned to brace for possible tsunami after an earthquake off the coast of Alaska.