"We're getting tremendous accolades from politicians and the people but we are ready," Trump said during a reception for Congressional Medal of Honor recipients at the White House.

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The president said the hurricane is going to be "one of the biggest ever to hit our country" but said his staff is closely coordinating with state and local officials in the Carolinas and Georgia, where Florence is expected to make landfall.

Trump is seeking to show his team is better prepared than it was during Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people last fall in Puerto Rico, even as he defends his handling of that storm.

"We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming!" he tweeted earlier Wednesday .

Eight in 10 Puerto Ricans say Trump did a fair or poor job responding to Maria, according to a new survey from The Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation.

The White House said Trump spent part of his day phoning leaders in the regions that could be affected by Florence, including Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R).

Florence, a Category 3 storm, is growing larger as it approaches the East Coast and experts fear it could cause flooding, widespread property damage and loss of life.