Despite tropical storm Elsa, red tide persists in Tampa Bay along with tons of fish the algae blooms killed

Many people in the Tampa Bay area were hoping Tropical Storm Elsa would help clear out some the high concentrations of red tide that have been in the waterway for about a month, as well as the tons of fish it killed.

But almost a week later, it appears the storm didn't help at all – and may even have done the opposite. "It certainly doesn't seem like, as we had all had our fingers crossed, that Tropical Storm Elsa helped the red tide situation. It certainly didn't flush it out of Tampa Bay. It's possible that in some areas, it did make it worse," said Dr. Lisa Krimsky, a Regional Water Resources Extension Agent with the University of Florida IFAS (Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences) Extension.