A Loyalsock Township family awoke early Sunday morning to the pungent stench of oil that had seeped into their basement from an outdoor underground 500-gallon tank, according to township fire officials and one of the residents.

A stream of oil surrounded the one-story home in the 500 block of Sand Hill Road,

a family member, who asked that his name not be published, said.

The smell was still quite strong when a reporter visited the property more than 15 hours later.

The recent heavy rain saturated the ground, and rain water entered the tank through an open ground-level fill cap site, fire officials explained.

Once the tank was filled, the overflow of oil and water gushed out of the cap site, surrounded the house and entered into the basement due to a clogged drain at the rear of the home, officials said. The oily substance saturated a carpet.

When the home owner bought the property in 2021, the oil tank was mentioned in a disclosure statement that also claimed that all the oil had been removed and that the tank was filled with sand.

Fire officials said they believe there was still “a sufficient amount” of oil in the tank.

Eagle, a hazardous materials emergency response cleanup team from Milesburg, came to the scene to suck all remaining oil out of the tank and cover the damaged landscape with tarps so that any future rainfall would not mix with the contaminated soil.

It will be an extensive clean-up operation, and a family of six has sought temporary shelter due to the strong odor of oil that remained in the home.

A representative from the state Department of Environmental Protection was expected to visit the scene Monday.

Much of the front lawn as well as land around the house will have to be excavated and taken to a state-approved dump site for hazardous soil, fire officials said.

The family was able to return to their home on Monday.