Story highlights "Every death is a horror," Trump said

Rosselló said he expected the death count to rise

(CNN) President Donald Trump told Puerto Rican officials Tuesday they should be "very proud" that hundreds of people haven't died after Hurricane Maria as they did in "a real catastrophe like Katrina."

"Every death is a horror," Trump said, "but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina and you look at the tremendous -- hundreds and hundreds of people that died -- and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering ... no one has ever seen anything like this."

"What is your death count?" he asked as he turned to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. "17?"

"16," Rosselló answered.

"16 people certified," Trump said. "Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people and all of our people working together. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud. Everybody watching can really be very proud of what's taken place in Puerto Rico."

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