CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — According to a press release from the Port of Victoria sent out Friday afternoon, around 300 barrels of a mixed spill occurred at tenant and private terminal of the port, Shamrock Products LLC.
The mixture included crude oil and diesel with elevated sulfur content. It was spilt into the port tenant's designated containment area and caused a strong odor.
The port said that as of Friday, none of the spilled product is in the Victoria Barge Canal and tests show that there are no actionable levels of hydrogen sulfide.
Thursday evening Goliad County Emergency Management posted on their social media that the odor experienced throughout the Coastal Bend was coming from a mixed spill containing crude oil, diesel and hydrogen sulfide at the Port of Victoria.
Officials spanning from Portland, Ingleside, Gregory and even right here in Corpus Christi spoke with 3NEWS about something that was asked frequently on Thursday: What is that smell?
You could say agencies around the Coastal Bend had their hands full, but so were their noses.
Corpus Christi Emergency Services Director Billy Delgado said the foul odor had residents all around the Coastal Bend area complaining.
"It started around 7:45 this morning," Delgado said. "I got a message that there was going to be a conference call with different agencies around the region. Smells we're coming from Victoria all the way down to Corpus Christi."
Delgado said Mother Nature played a large role in how the smell made its way down to our area.
"There has not been a location where it has originated from, but the way the wind was, everything south of Victoria, because the wind was blowing it this way."
He said that all agencies involved have been doing their part to sniff out the cause of the issue.
"Goliad's been monitoring, Victoria's been monitoring, and that's where some of the sources, south of Victoria," Delgado said. "Portland has been monitoring."
Blackbeard's On the Beach server, Giles Coulter, said he noticed the smell as soon as he woke up this morning.
"Walked outside this morning, I actually live in Aransas Pass, smelled like urine almost," Coulter said.
While the smell was definitely not urine, Delgado said agencies are still working to find out what it is.
"TCEQ has been monitoring and no source has been reported," he said.
The San Patricio County Emergency Management District posted to social media saying that they have still not found the source of the odor, but it does not pose a direct threat to our populations.
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