They probably counted the deaths until everyone had power..
if you have a stroke it is not caused by the hurricane
I had four family members die while Democrats were in office, so I guess I can say that Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama killed my father, my brother, and my two sisters.
There was an original estimate which was low. ("The deaths of 64 people were initially directly attributed to the hurricane by the government of Puerto Rico")
Groups began re-evaluating the numbers and extending deaths past the actual hurricane claiming these people died as a result of the hurricane.
It went from 64 to 3000. People are probably still dying from Hurricane Maria.