Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last September, resulting in what experts estimate to be nearly 3,000 deaths. President Donald Trump, however, does not believe the death toll, falsely claiming that only six to 18 people died.

On Thursday, Trump tweeted, “3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3,000.”

Central Connecticut State University Communications Professor Serafin Mendez stated he himself knew more people who died than the numbers Trump reported.

“I can myself name and count people who I know have died and it goes far beyond eighteen,” Mendez said. “In fact, we have students at Central that have lost family members to the storm.”

At CCSU, President Dr. Zulma Toro created the Airbridge program which allows students impacted by the storm to continue their education here on-campus.

Yormellie E. Estrada and Marivellisse Acostaare are two students who are part of the new program. Although education here at CCSU has impacted the both of them in a positive way, allowing them to switch majors and focus on their passions, Trump’s remarks have left a negative taste.

Earlier this month, Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rosselló formally raised the death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to an estimated 2,975 following a study conducted by researchers at George Washington University. The university study accounted for Puerto Ricans who succumbed to the stifling heat and other aftereffects of the storm, which had not been previously counted in official figures, according to CNN.

Additionally, parts of the island were reported to be without power for weeks.

“They were rising because at this point it’s almost been a year and there are still people without water [and] electricity. They said that the island has 100 percent power back, but that is not true,” Estrada said.

Estrada noted that her mother works in a hospital, saying there were hundreds of hospitals running and, after the storm, the island was left with about two to three.

Trump took to Twitter for the second time stating, “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising billions of dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!”

Disagreeing with how Trump handled the rise of the death toll, House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNN reporters he has “no reason to dispute those numbers.”

Adding to his statement, Ryan said that the “horrible” storm was “devastating” and that when he “toured the entire island” and saw firsthand that “it’s an isolated island that lost its infrastructure and power for a long time, you couldn’t get to people for a long time.”

Still, with research on hand, Trump denies fault for the rising death toll and even called his handling of Hurricane Maria, saying earlier last week that it was an “incredible success.”

“I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful,” Trump said. He went on to call the island “tough” due to the inability to transport vital equipment and supplies by truck. “It was one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about.”

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz does not agree with Trump. Cruz believes the federal government failed to provide adequately in the aftermath of the storm and felt that Trump should not be praising the efforts that were made.

“In a humanitarian crisis, you should not be grading yourself. You should not be just having a parade of self-accolades. You should never be content with everything we did. I’m not content with everything I did, I should have done more. We should have all done more,” Cruz told reporters.

The Government Accountability Office released a report that revealed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, was not fully prepared during the time Hurricane Maria hit, which resulted in deploying workers who were unqualified for the job.

Now, changes are being made focusing on “critical lifelines – health, safety, security,” according to FEMA Administrator Brock Long. But until they happen, the fate of the island is unknown.