San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz slammed President Donald Trump after he blamed Democrats for the "really large number" of deaths reported following Hurricane Maria last year.

She said Trump's "lack of respect is appalling" and said he was denying the facts of a government-funded study.

A study commissioned by the Puerto Rico government released in late August found that 2,975 people had died in the wake of the storm.

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, slammed President Donald Trump on Thursday after he blamed Democrats for the "really large number" of deaths reported following Hurricane Maria last year.

Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said in a tweet Thursday morning: "This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING!"

She then called Trump a "bully" and said his "true colors" were shining through.

—Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018

—Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018

—Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018

Her tweet came after Trump said "3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico," adding that the death count was much lower when he visited the island last year.

"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!" Trump said.

Initial official estimates found that 64 people were killed as a result of the hurricane, but the number was highly disputed and a government-funded study later found the number to be much higher.

The study commissioned by the Puerto Rico government released in late August found that 2,975 people had died in the wake of the storm. It found that Hurricane Maria was the second deadliest storm in US history.

After that study came out, Puerto Rico's government raised the official death toll to 2,975 on August 28, 2018.

A separate study published in August found that 1,139 people died in hurricane-related deaths, and the authors called that estimate "conservative."

Trump visited the island and evaluated relief efforts after Hurricane Maria hit the island.

Earlier this week Trump faced criticism after boasting about his administration's efforts in Puerto Rico, saying they were "incredibly successful."

The comments between the two leaders came as Hurricane Florence approached the East Coast. The storm was downgraded from a category 4 to a category 2 on Thursday, but forecasters are still predicting devastating flooding across the Carolinas from storm surge and heavy rains.