Puerto Rico officials adopted the figure as the official number of deaths linked to the storm. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday defended President Donald Trump ’s roundly criticized denial of the official death toll in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria. WATCH: FEMA Administrator Brock Long calls Puerto Rico studies “frustrating” #MTP @FEMA_Brock : “You might see more deaths indirectly as time goes on... Spousal abuse goes through the roof. Independent investigations conducted separately by The New York Times, Penn State University and Harvard University also estimated Maria’s death toll to be in the thousands. It’s not uncommon for a death toll to rise in the days, weeks and months after a natural disaster.

Source: Huffington Post September 16, 2018 15:15 UTC