<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/gettyimages-871400480.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/gettyimages-871400480.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/gettyimages-871400480.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Power poles and lines downed by Hurricane Maria lie on a sidewalk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 7, 2017. (RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty Images)

At a Glance Officials say nearly 500 more people died in Puerto Rico in September 2017 than in September 2016.

But the government continues to insist the official Hurricane Maria death toll is 55.

More than half the island remains powerless nearly two months after the storm made landfall.

For weeks, Puerto Rican authorities have insisted Hurricane Maria killed 55 people on the island, but a recent announcement suggests that's nowhere near close to the truth.

Last Thursday, Puerto Rican officials confirmed 472 more deaths occurred on the island in September 2017 than September 2016, the New York Times reported. Known as the excess death toll, it doesn't necessarily confirm 472 people were killed by Maria, but it suggests hundreds of deaths could have been attributed to the storm, even though officials refuse to do so.

And that's just for September; as the humanitarian crisis continued into October and November, it's possible many more deaths were indirectly caused by Maria.

"There has been an inaccurate counting of deaths ," attorney and human rights activist Judith Berkan told the Consortium News. "The official number is 55 right now, but every day you hear of situations where people are dying, and whether they are attributed to the storm or not is a matter of great controversy. So many health and mental health issues are connected to the storm. The nursing homes are without air conditioning."

(MORE: 17 Moments We'll Never Forget from the 2017 Hurricane Season )

One reason this crisis has been able to fester is that many parts of the island have been in the dark for upwards of 50 days. Officially the largest power outage in the history of the United States, crews were making progress for weeks until a key power line failed yet again last week . Suddenly, the island went from 43 percent restored to 18 percent.

Since then, progress has been made. At the last update from the Puerto Rican government on Tuesday, 48.7 percent of customers have had their power restored . With a total of 1.5 million customers on the island, that equals 769,500 homes and businesses still in the dark.

These outages cause issues beyond people just sitting in the dark. The longer hospitals, police and fire stations are powerless, the harder it gets to save people who fall ill or encounter other problems.

"(Tuesday) the entire San Juan area was (without power) and, from what I understand, the entire north coast," Berkan told the Consortium News. "And this is 50 days after the hurricane. And remember that about 10 days before Maria, we had Hurricane Irma, which knocked out the electricity to a good portion of the country. So there have been a lot of people who have not had electricity since Labor Day."