Updated at 3 p.m. Tuesday

Here’s the latest on the “haz-mat” situation that wasn’t, from Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes:

“We were dispatched at 11:17 a.m.  to investigate a report from a city Public Works employee about a large amount of white powder in the intersection of Edmonds Street and Sunset Ave. N. Haz-mat technicians from Fire District 1, Fire District 7 and Lynnwood Fire Department responded and blocked off the area until the powder could be identified. About 12:40 p.m., a test determined the white powder was baking flour.

“As we were clearing the scene, we received a report that a woman who was running in the area earlier in the morning saw two crows dragging a bag of flour. She said she took the bag of flour away from the crows and threw it a nearby garbage can.”

Hynes noted that it appeared the crows weren’t completely to blame, “because the flour was in lines forming a rectangle (perhaps a make-shift baseball diamond?).”

Posted at 2:21 p.m. Tuesday:

We received questions from readers wondering about rumors of a hazardous materials situation early this afternoon on the Edmonds waterfront — not to mention a variety of television news helicopters flying overhead.

Sources tell us that the substance in question was actually determined not to be hazardous. We have asked Snohomish County Fire District 1 for some follow-up information and will share that as soon as we get it.