San Juan, August 29 (RHC)-- Puerto Rico has officially raised the death toll from Hurricane Maria last year from 64 to nearly 3,000 following the release of a study ordered by the governor of the island.  This officially makes Maria one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history.  Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló acknowledged the higher death count on Tuesday.  U.S. President Donald Trump has so far not responded to the new official death toll, which is 46 times higher than the initial count.  

While Puerto Rico is now putting the death toll at 2,975, other studies show the actual death toll from Hurricane Maria may be considerably higher.  In May, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found the death toll to be at least 4,645 -- and perhaps as high as 5,740.