Trump ready to make North Carolina 'the next Puerto Rico,' Colbert warns

President Donald Trump assured the East Coast on Wednesday that officials were prepared to handle Hurricane Florence, but Stephen Colbert said people in the storm's path should take that assurance with a grain a salt.

"So, I just want to say, if you're not evacuating the coast of the Carolinas, don't worry -- Donald Trump is bragging he's prepared to make you the next Puerto Rico," Colbert said on "The Late Show." "It's just like it's hard to understand how, in a certain way, the Hindenburg crash was one of aviation's most spectacular landings."

The comedian also slammed the president for bragging about his response to last year's deadly hurricane in Puerto Rico, which Trump referred an "inaccessible island" on Wednesday.

"Inaccessible?" Colbert joked, acting confused. "People go there for spring break! It's not that island where they're hiding King Kong."

The host's comments came a few hours after Trump defended his administration's response to Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, according to one study, and devastated the island's infrastructure.

"We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming," Trump tweeted Wednesday, after he was criticized by San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.

"Success? Federal response according to Trump in Puerto Rico a success? If he thinks the death of 3,000 people [is] a success God help us all," Cruz tweeted on Tuesday. "Pres Trump thinks losing 3,000 lives is a success. Can you imagine what he thinks failure looks like?"

Hurricane Florence is forecast to bring catastrophic flooding to the Southeast, dropping as much as 40 inches of rain in parts North Carolina.

The latest forecast on Wednesday night showed the eye of Florence about 335 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest in the Atlantic at 16 mph and packing sustained winds of 115 mph.