Death toll rises in Puerto Rico to 34

Donald and Melania Trump arrived back in Washington DC on Tuesday night after taking a four-hour trip to Puerto Rico to survey damage from Hurricane Maria.

The official death toll had risen to 34 from 16, Governor Ricardo Rossello announced at a news conference shortly after Trump’s departure. Rossello also said he believes the hurricane caused $90bn in damage across the island.

The visit lasted one hour less than had been originally planned. During the visit, Trump touted his administration’s response to the humanitarian crisis and said that it was not ‘a real catastrophe’ like Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast and destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005.

He said at a news conference attended by The Washington Post: ‘Every death is a horror. But if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering – nobody has ever seen anything like this.’

Turning to Governor Ricardo Rossello, Trump asked: ‘What is your death count as of this moment, 17? ‘Sixteen people certified,’ Trump said after confirming the answer. ‘Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people all of our people working together. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people.’

Katrina is believed to have resulted in 1,836 deaths.

Trump’s visit was originally anticipated to last five hours, but instead it lasted for four hours on October 3

Donald and Melania walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington as they return from a trip to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd as he hands out supplies at Calvary Chapel, Tuesday, October 3, 2017, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Trump was in Puerto Rico to survey hurricane damage

The president exuded enthusiasm and a positive outlook throughout his visit. The Post notes that he used the word ‘great’ 10 times throughout his visit’s speeches. He used both ‘incredible’ and ‘amazing’ seven times. 

On the plane back to Washington DC, he told the press pool that he had heard no criticism of his response to aiding the island US territory.

He said: ‘I think it has been a great day. We only heard thank-yous from the people of Puerto Rico. They are great people, and it was really something that I enjoyed very much.’

Trump flew to Puerto Rico in a bid to reassure citizens that the government would support them – then tried to wipe away complaints about inaction by tossing rolls of paper towel into a crowd.

Trump met with responders and toured a damaged street in a whirlwind tour of the island. He pledged to share some of the bounty of the nation’s coffers to provide relief, even as he reminded residents that they were throwing the budget ‘out of whack.’

”I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack. Because we’ve spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico. And that’s fine. We’ve saved a lot of lives,’ he said.

Trump is pictured greeting members of the U.S. military as he prepares to board Air Force One in Carolina, Puerto Rico

Trump, pictured with First Lady Melania, said at a news conference in Puerto Rico: ‘Every death is a horror. But if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering – nobody has ever seen anything like this’

The Trumps acknowledge people cheering from a distance as they return aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

Demonstrators gathered outside the Convention Center in San Juan to protest Trump’s visit to the United States unincorporated territory

But it was Trump’s visit to a local chapel that brought a vigorous response from a local crowd.    

First, the president handed out packages of ‘Arroz Rico’ branded rice to people who came to see him and collect supplies.

Then, in a display that drew an immediate outcry online, the president began tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd, basketball style.

One by one, the president shot a succession of rolls toward the back of the crowd, sending them aloft with his fingertips.

Trump met with military, homeland, and local government officials to assess the response. The storm has wrecked the island’s infrastructure and has resulted in the deaths of 34 people so far. 

After meeting with responders, Trump walked on a storm-wrecked street in Guaynabo, viewing damaged homes and snapping photos with residents. 

After meeting one family, Trump said: ‘Great looking family and they said thank you Mister president.’

The family hadn’t had power since Hurricane Irma hit weeks ago.

The Trumps are pictured listening to Kenneth Mapp, the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, during a briefing on hurricane relief efforts aboard the USS Kearsarge off the coast of San Juan during their visit

The Trumps took a walking tour of hurricane wreckage and are pictured with Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Major Angel Perez Otero (directly to the right of Donald), acting FEMA Administrator Brock Long (far right), Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello (left) and his wife Beatriz Areizeaga (behind her husband to the left)

Donald Trump is pictured shaking a woman’s hand while on a walking tour of a hurricane-affected neighborhood

Trump said of his visit: ‘I think it has been a great day. We only heard thank-yous from the people of Puerto Rico. They are great people, and it was really something that I enjoyed very much’

During remarks with other officials leading the response, Trump stressed that he wasn’t concerned about his own image – having blasted the San Juan mayor on Twitter after she challenged the federal response. 

”It’s not about me it’s about these incredible people form the military, to FEMA, the first responders. I’ve never seen people working so hard in my life,’ Trump said.

‘It was a great trip and a beautiful place … your weather is second to none, but every once in a while you get hit. And you really got hit. There’s no question about it,’ Trump said, in remarks carried on cable networks.  

He praised the U.S. Navy for having ‘ships all over the place’.

The president had difficulty sticking strictly to the subject at hand. Praising the military, he mentioned the F-35 fighter. 

‘It’s hard to fight a plane that you can’t see right? But that’s an expensive plane that you can’t see. As you’ve probably heard we cut the price very substantially,’ he said.

Trump implored delegate Jennifer Gonzalez Colon to say kind words about the response.

‘She was saying such nice things about all of the people who had worked so hard. Jennifer do you think you could say a little bit what you said about us today?’ Trump asked. She responded that the feds were ‘by our side’ and thanked Trump for ‘all you are doing for the island.’

Earlier, Trump pushed back against critics of his administration’s response to disaster that Hurricane Maria wrought on Puerto Rico by giving himself an ‘A plus’ grade. 

The president issued his self-evaluation shortly before boarding Marine One en route to an island almost entirely without power that is enduring food shortages, fuel problems, a lack of clean water, and critics say an insufficient presence of troops and responders.

‘In Texas and Florida we get an A-plus,’ Trump told reporters. ‘And I’ll tell you what, I think we’ve done just as good in Puerto Rico and it’s actually a much tougher situation.

President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan

Absorbing lessons from public officials who have failed to be seen responding to disasters, President Donald Trump visited Puerto Rico, where he threw rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria

U.S. President Donald Trump hands out cans of chicken to a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits a disaster relief distribution point at Calgary Chapel in San Juan

The president declined to criticize the mayor of Puerto Rico, after dinging her with a series of tweets over the weekend following her call for a more robust response.

‘Well I think she’s come back a long way,’ Trump said, in apparent reference to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. 

‘I think it’s now acknowledged what a great job we’ve done, and people are looking at that,’ the president said. 

Trump also took a shot at Puerto Rican truck drivers who are needed to move supplies out of the ports. ‘We need their truck drivers to start driving trucks,’ Trump said. ‘On a local level they have to give us more help.’

But he continued to heap praise on first responders and on FEMA. ‘I will tell you, the first responders, the military, FEMA, they have done an incredible job in Puerto Rico,’ Trump said.

‘Whether it’s [the mayor] or anybody else they’re all starting to say it. I appreciate very much the governor and his comments,’ Trump said, in reference to Governor Ricardo Rossello. ‘He has said we’ve done an incredible job and that’s the truth.’     

The president’s top-class rating for himself comes after he was criticized for issuing a series of tweets about the NFL as the disaster unfolded.

He later called critics on the island ‘ingrates,’ complaining: ‘They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.’

‘We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates, people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military. All buildings now inspected for safety,’ Trump wrote in two tweets. 

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with Governor Ricardo Rossello (left) and other officials after stepping off Air Force One upon arrival at Muniz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, Puerto Rico.Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria thrashed through the US territory, much of the islands remains short of food and without access to power or drinking water

President Donald Trump and Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello, center, listen to residents and survey hurricane damage and recovery efforts in a neighborhood in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

President Donald Trump visits with residents while visiting Puerto Rico to survey relief efforts following Hurricane Maria in Guaynabo

President Donald Trump and Melania Trump greet U.S Air Force airmen as he arrives at the Muniz Air National Guard Base as he makes a visit after Hurricane Maria hit the island on October 3, 2017 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The president has been criticized by some who say the government’s response has been inadequate

President Donald Trump talks about recovery efforts after arriving with first lady Melania Trump at Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base to survey hurricane damage

Even before the storm hit on September 20, Puerto Rico was in dire condition thanks to a decade-long economic recession that had left its infrastructure, including the island’s power lines, in a sorry state. 

Maria was the most powerful hurricane to hit the island in nearly a century and unleashed floods and mudslides that knocked out the island’s entire electrical grid and telecommunications, along with many roads.

Nearly two weeks later, 95 percent of electricity customers remain without power, including some hospitals. And much of the countryside is still struggling to access basic necessities, including food, fresh water and cash.

Trump and other administration officials have worked in recent days to reassure Americans that recovery efforts are going well and combat the perception that the president failed to fully grasp the magnitude of the storm’s destruction in its immediate aftermath.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday the trip would focus on local recovery efforts, ‘which we’re fully committed to’.

‘The top priority for the federal government is certainly to protect the lives and the safety of those in affected areas and provide life-sustaining services as we work together to rebuild their lives,’ she said.

While early response efforts were hampered by logistical challenges, officials say that conditions, especially in the capital, have improved.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there are now more than 10,000 federal officials on the ground on the island, and forty-five percent of customers now have access to drinking water. Businesses are also beginning to re-open, with 60 percent of retail gas stations now up and running.

For many, however, that isn’t enough. On Monday, the nonprofit Oxfam announced that it would be taking the rare step of intervening in an American disaster, citing its outrage over what it called a ‘slow and inadequate response’.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz during a briefing on hurricane recovery efforts with first responders at Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base to survey hurricane damage and recovery efforts

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland en route Puerto Rico

Destroyed communities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Thursday, September 28. The aftermath of the powerful storm has resulted in a near-total shutdown of the U.S. territory’s economy that could last for weeks and has many people running seriously low on cash and worrying that it will become even harder to survive on this storm-ravaged island

Dead poultry are seen in a farm, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Aibonito, Puerto Rico, Monday, September 25. A government official said that the farm, which supplies the only fresh chicken in Puerto Rico, lost more than one million chickens

Jonathan Aponte walks with a gas can up the road to his home in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, September 26

President Donald Trump makes a statement about the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Monday, October 2, 2017 at the White House in Washington

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland en route to Puerto Rico on October 3, 2017

President Donald Trump speaks to the media while flanked by first lady Melania Trump before departing on Marine One from the White House, on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC.President Trump is traveling to Puerto Rico after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last month

President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, talks to reporters as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, October 3

President Donald Trump gave himself an ‘A plus’ on hurricane response as he heads to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico