"My biggest concern is the rising waters": the Coast Guard chief worries about Florence's slowness

As Florence continues to move into the Carolinas, the US Coast Guard chief said the slow pace of the storm is exacerbating the flood problems.

"My biggest concern is the rising waters … The storm is moving very slowly," said Admiral Karl Schultz in an interview on "This Week". "It's southwest of Florence, South Carolina, you know, there's going to be a good 24 hours before we cross the Ohio Valley, so we're looking at high water."

President Trump declared the state of emergency Monday in South Carolina before the storm, which moved into the state on Friday night. In North Carolina, the president on Saturday approved a major disaster declaration, which calls for more funding and coordination by the federal government. Florence is now classified as a tropical depression.

The federal government has said that aid is flowing into North Carolina and that the number of federal employees involved in the recovery is several thousand.

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Michael Sprayberry, the director of emergency management for North Carolina, said this morning in another interview on "This Week" that the situation in his country is "bad right now and we expect an aggravation in the next days".

"You've seen many major storms, many big hurricanes in North Carolina, how does that compare?" asked White House chief correspondent Jonathan Karl.

"I would say it's the record books, we had unprecedented rainfall … we also had an extreme coastal storm surge … and we had strong winds," said Sprayberry. "I will tell you that the winds are not – fortunately not as high as expected – but we had this triple threat, there will be a lot of damage … we have a lot of work to do."

In a statement to ABC News, the US Coast Guard said its helicopter crews had already saved 57 people and more than 3,000 Coast Guard members were involved in the emergency operations.

Schultz said Trump is up to date on federal emergency management efforts.

"The president is leaning completely," said Schultz. "All the federal government needs to do to support the locals, the state partners here in South Carolina, North Carolina, we feel fully supported."

ABC News has confirmed at least 14 deaths following the storm.

President Trump received warmth from both sides of the aisle after questioning the report of George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health, according to which 2,975 people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria . The study was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government, which accepted its findings.

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"I call no doubt about the number," Schultz said on the issue of the death toll in Puerto Rico. "As our team was part of it, we were very supported and empowered to go forward and try to help us."

"I saw what I saw and I know that the efforts I saw were very engaged for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," Schultz said.