It seems the answer to this question has turned toward an argument about whether it is a new standard to include indirect deaths when discussing deaths caused by a hurricane. As per some comments, this change was made for Hurricane Maria in order to make Trump look bad, and death reports are a partisan issue where pro-Trump people have one fact and ant-Trump people have another fact. This is not a new standard. The inclusion of indirect deaths in fatality reports from hurricanes occurred for previous hurricanes. It is not a partisan decision to do so. 

Perhaps this shouldn't be included as an answer to this question, but the details seem to be easy to lose in comments. I'm open to suggestions for how to appropriately contribute this information to an answer re: the claim "Is President Trump correct that the official death toll figure is grossly exaggerated?"  Perhaps it's better as an answer to a different question: was the reporting standard changed for Hurricane Maria (in order to make Trump look bad)?



[Hurricane Katrina's death toll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina#Impact): 
> According to the National Hurricane Center, 1,836 fatalities can be attributed to the storm... many of the deaths are indirect

[Hurricane Harvey's death toll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey)
>Harvey caused at least 107 confirmed deaths: 1 in Guyana, and 106 in the United States.

From the side bar:
>68 direct, 39 indirect

[Hurricane Sandy's death toll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy#Impact)

>At least 233 people were killed across the United States, the Caribbean, and Canada, as a result of the storm

From the table:
> 106 direct 87 indirect