About 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Bay County emergency responders received a call regarding a storage tank washing ashore at Laguna Beach, on the West End of Panama City Beach. Bay County Hazmat officials responded to the scene and found an approximately 5,000-pound, 550-gallon storage tank leaking an oily substance. The U.S. Coast Guard, Bay County Sheriff's Department and Bay County Fire and Rescue officials worked with BP contractor SWS to secure the area, remove the tank and clean the oily substance. About 1,000 feet of beach was closed to swimmers, but was reopened at sundown Saturday. Click here to read a News Herald story about the incident.

 

The storage tank remains, as yet, Bay County's first and only impact from the oil looming in the Gulf. As of Monday afternoon, no reports have been confirmed of petroleum product -- including tar balls or oil sheen or plumes -- originating from the Deepwater Horizon oil release washing up on Bay County shores, though Bay County hazardous materials teams continue to respond to suspected tarball sightings. Bay County residents and visitors are asked to survey the beaches and report any suspected petroleum product or odor to authorities by calling the local hotline at 248-6030. Upon receipt of a reported petroleum product or odor, the Bay County Emergency Operations Center will immediately deploy Bay County hazmat personnel to collect and test the item(s), meanwhile the information will also be forwarded to Unified Command and other designated responders. Residents and visitors should not handle any suspicious material, but rather allow properly trained technicians to address the issue.

 

In other news:

 

-- Tier 2 booming operations started this weekend with approximately 13,500 feet of boom in the water. All 24,000 feet should be complete today.

 

-- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updates its projected trajectories daily. Over the next 72 hours, the oil will continue to make an easterly track, according to NOAA.