A top FEMA official defended the agency after a photo revealed millions of water bottles the agency had positioned on the island sitting on a runway a year after Hurricane Maria knocked out critical supply chains.

A FEMA administrator said the bottles, pictured on pallet after pallet on a Puerto Rican runway and covered in blue plastic, were deemed surplus.

FEMA deputy administrator Daniel Kaniewski told "CBS This Morning' that: 'Those are excess water bottles. Those were not needed during the response phase and were not distributed by the governor of Puerto Rico or FEMA for that reason.'

A top FEMA official defended the agency after a photo revealed millions of water bottles the agency positioned on the Puerto Rico sitting on a runway a year after Hurricane Maria devastated the island

The network posted aerial images posted by Abdiel Santana, of the United Forces of Rapid Action agency, a part of the Puerto Rican Police force.

Kaniewski defended the decision, amid a tense time for the agency, as President Trump lauded the agency's handling of the hurricane and disputed an analysis that put the death toll at nearly 3,000 people – while Hurricane Florence started slamming into the Carolinas.

'I'm confident that those that needed those bottles of water got them during the response phase and these were excess bottles of water that were, again, transferred to save money for the American taxpayer in January,' Kaniewski said.

The water was deemed 'excess,' according to FEMA, and said they were transferred to save taxpayers' money

The bottled war gained attention after President Trump hailed the hurricane response as another storm prepared to wallop the Carolinas

Carlos Mercader, head of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, said in a statement FEMA didn't deliver the bottles to the Puerto Rican government until April, USA Today reported. When 700 bottles were sent out, residents complained about the odor and they were deemed undrinkable.

Another FEMA official had told CBS: '"If [FEMA] put that water on that runway, there will be hell to pay ... If we did that, we're going to fess up to it.

Angel Cruz Ramos, the mayor of Ceiba, the town that includes the runway, told CNN it was too much water to be useful and came at the wrong time: "The time and heat has made it bad."

President Donald Trump lauded the Hurricane response and rejected the death toll of nearly 3,000.

The local mayor told CNN the heat spoiled the bottled water

Trump tweeted this week: '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!

Then on Tuesday, he hailed the Maria response, saying: 'I actually think it was one of the best jobs that’s ever been with respect to what this is all about.'

Trump kept tweeting about the death toll on Thursday, as Hurricane Florence barreled toward the Carolinas.

President Donald Trump now says the accepted death toll from hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico in 2017 is inflated – and claims Democrats are leveraging the number 'to make me look bad'

Puerto Ricans were left to dig themselves out of debris in the wake of Hurricane Maria last year in dangerous conditions after losing power, running water and cell phone service

'3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico,' the president tweeted.

'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 3000.'

'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!'

Half of Puerto Ricans surveyed in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll poll said they couldn't get enough water during the storm and were concerned about water quality.