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Trump contrasts deaths on island to 'real catastrophe like Katrina'
Trump contrasts Puerto Rico death toll to 'a real catastrophe like Katrina'
Story highlights
- "Every death is a horror," Trump said
- Rosselló said he expected the death count to rise
(CNN)President Donald Trump told Puerto Rican officials Tuesday they should be "very proud" that hundreds of people haven't died after Hurricane Maria as they did in "a real catastrophe like Katrina."
"Every death
is a horror," Trump said, "but if you look at a real catastrophe
like Katrina and you look at the tremendous -- hundreds and hundreds of
people that died -- and you look at what happened here with, really, a
storm that was just totally overpowering ... no one has ever seen
anything like this."
"What is your death count?" he asked as he turned to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. "17?"
"16," Rosselló answered.
"16
people certified," Trump said. "Sixteen people versus in
the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people and all of
our people working together. Sixteen versus literally thousands of
people. You can be very proud. Everybody watching can really be very
proud of what's taken place in Puerto Rico."
According to FEMA, 1,833 people died in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Before Trump arrived Tuesday, Rosselló said he expected the death count to rise.
"I've
established from the get-go that due to the magnitude of this event it
is likely that that number is going to go up," Rosselló told reporters
at a news conference Tuesday.
The
White House has pushed back on the notion that Maria is this
administration's version of Katrina, and the President praised relief
efforts in Puerto Rico as he departed Washington Tuesday.
"I
think we've done just as good in Puerto Rico and it's actually a much
tougher situation," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White
House. "But now the roads are clear, communications starting to come
back."
On the ground in Puerto
Rico, Trump also appeared to blame the island and its 3.5 million
residents for throwing the federal budget "a little out of whack."
"I
hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out
of whack," Trump said with a grin. "Because we've spent a lot of money
on Puerto Rico and that's fine, we've saved a lot of lives."
But
the bulk of Trump's remarks on Tuesday focused on praising his
administration's response to the destructive hurricane, even as more
than half of the island's roughly 3.5 million residents still lack
access to potable water and as nearly all of the island remains without
power.
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