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And at that point, i decided to stop the count which was at around 64. because it really wasn't working. >> reporter: the governor then asked public health scientists at george washington university to explore how many excess deaths happened in the six months after maria. their estimate? 2,975. a death toll jump of more than 4500%. that number would include people like miguel santana, a u.s. veteran hop drove off a washed out bridge in pitch darkness. ana talia rodriguez whose breathing machine quit when his family's generator ran out of gas. >> if we had electricity, normal electricity at tha...

2,975. a death toll jump of more than 4,500%. that number would include people like miguel maldonado santana, a u.s. veteran who drove off a washed out bridge in pitch darkness. and atalia rodriguez whose breathing machine quit when his family's generator ran out of gas. >> if we had electricity, normal electricity at that time, he could be alive still today. >> reporter: how many applications have you received for funeral assistance? >> right now, i have about 2,235 total cases that have provided me death certificates. >> reporter: do you suspect people are trying to game that system to get m...

Almost like scorched earth when you take a look at how fascinating mother nature is. and your were asked about picking up other items and this is the it season that was really terrible across california, montana, oregon, washington. >> thank you. one year ago this week hurricane maria becoming one of the worst national disasters in history. >> devastated the island and plungering its residents into a year-long nightmare. 2,975 is the toll. >> our layla santiago and weir give me ea response and what really happened in puerto rico

But the infrastructure is what you would see in the most primitive parts of the developing world. some of roads in the center are so -- still so dangerous. people are wet beds under leaky rooves a year later. so these are tough people, used to austerity,ulesed to blackouts, used to an island that's been neglected for a half century, but it's really taken a human toll that's hard to tell in terms of ptsd, suicide attempts are up. the kids, the maria generation will be haunted by this for a long time. >> those wounds, they last. leyla, you are aware president trump has repeatedly questioned the ...

The official death toll. 2,975. did you ask people about this? do they have a reaction to that when their president questions that toll? >> well, one of the things i noticed quickly in the weeks we were there, everyone mentioned -- just about everybody -- they knew somebody or knew somebody who knew somebody that lost somebody from hurricane maria. the death to him wibeing in the thousands is very real of them. everybody knows of a case of someone who died not only in the hurricane, but maybe somebody who died months later because of the condition, because of not having power. because of not h...