Okaloosa County Chairman Trey Goodwin provided an update on the environmental incident in Cinco Bayou at the end of Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting.
- Goodwin said the incident first came to light Sunday and remains under investigation, with multiple agencies now involved. He described it as a significant event that stretched multiple miles of the bayou and has not yet resolved, though conditions are changing.
“We don’t know exactly what it was,” Goodwin said. “Don’t know if it was a spill. Not sure yet.”
According to Goodwin, the incident killed thousands of fish and thousands of crabs. He said the odor was a sulfur-type smell that would burn the nose and eyes, and the water turned gray.
“Fish were trying to escape the water,” Goodwin said. “There were flounder trying to swim out on the bank. Eels coming out of reefs trying to climb up sea walls. Crabs that were climbing up pilings.”
Goodwin said the source has not been identified and that agencies are pursuing the typical suspects. Both the county and the City of Fort Walton Beach have looked at water and sewer systems, and officials are examining other point sources.
He said water test results are expected to come in over several days, some Tuesday, some Wednesday and possibly some Thursday, with different levels of analysis, because no single cause has been identified so far.
Goodwin said the incident did not develop incrementally but rapidly, impacting three and a half miles of the bayou within a 24-hour period.
