After a series of severe hurricanes hit the Texas Gulf Coast and other U.S. coastlines last summer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was nearing its limits. The agency was so strained, said Michael Coen, then its chief of staff, that it had to bring in officials from other federal agencies to help coordinate relief efforts in what would be the third costliest hurricane season on record.

Now, with the next hurricane season just three months away, FEMA and other federal agencies tasked with helping communities prepare and recover from natural disasters are among those being slashed by Texas billionaire Elon Musk at the direction of President Donald Trump.

The cost-cutting moves come as the U.S. is experiencing increasing numbers of large-scale natural disasters, driving fears that the federal disaster system that has helped rebuild the Gulf Coast time and again could be overwhelmed by a major hurricane.

"To diminish FEMA and these other agencies at a time they're challenged by the increased frequency and severity of storms will leave this administration in jeopardy," said Cohen, who left FEMA in January. "States are relying on these programs for guidance and approval. I don’t know how that money would get administered if you don’t have the staff."

Texas has received $18.6 billion in FEMA funding since 2017, more than any other state except Florida. And it is one of the largest recipients of federal block grants that help fund rebuilding efforts after natural disasters, receiving more than $14.6 billion since 2001, according to the Bipartisan Policy Institute.

During his campaign run, Trump attacked FEMA repeatedly as a "disaster," at one point falsely accusing the Biden administration of redirecting funding for disaster relief to helping migrants. He has said the agency might "go away," floating the concept of shifting funding to states to manage hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes on their own.

Earlier this month the Trump administration fired more than 200 employees from FEMA, which employs close to 20,000 people. It also axed nearly all 86% of employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Community Planning and Development, which administers the billions of dollars in block grants for disaster relief. 

And more cuts are likely coming, after a memo went out to agency heads this week ordering them to begin "large scale reductions in force."

FEMA referred questions about its ability to manage the upcoming hurricane season to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Emergency management is best led by local authorities. DHS stands ready to help when a state needs, requests, and declares an emergency," a spokesman for that agency said, attributing the statement to a senior agency official.

A spokesperson for HUD said of the staff reductions, "nothing should not be taken as final.”

News of staff cuts at HUD, which is charged with overseeing the blocks grants, set off concern among local officials in and around Houston. That money is used to do everything from making water and sewage plants more resilient to flooding and high winds to rebuilding homes for those who are uninsured — an increasing problem in low-income neighborhoods as home insurance rates skyrocket.

Houston city officials, who are set to receive $314 million in grants for damage caused by Hurricane Beryl in July and the wind storm that rocked the city in May, are trying to figure out how the new administration's cuts might alter their plans, said Mary Benton, a spokeswoman for the city.

"At this time it’s too early to determine the impact," she said.

The Trump administration is also taking aim at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the hub of a federal storm network that provides crucial weather data and forecasts to local authorities during hurricane season. About 800 probationary employees, who are newer to the agency or have been recently promoted, were laid off on Thursday, with more firings possibly to come, according to CNN and other news outlets.

In Washington, the cuts have already set off a political fight on the future of the federal government in disaster relief.

As Musk seeks to decrease the size and increase the efficiency of federal agencies, Democrats are questioning how they will be able to get funds out quickly in the next natural disaster.

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher of Houston said that, given the complexity of managing and overseeing grant funding for disasters, it was hard to imagine how funding for rebuilding from Hurricane Beryl would not be delayed by the staff cuts.

"The Trump administration policy to shoot first and ask questions later hasn't worked well and it won't work here," she said.

So far, the cuts at FEMA and HUD have met little resistance from Republicans, even those in disaster-prone states like Texas.

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who oversees the disbursement of disaster relief funding to communities across Texas, cheered the cost cutting, saying in a statement it was needed to "identify waste, fraud, and abuse, and to streamline federal regulations that have reached a breaking point where bureaucracy has far surpassed pragmatism, effectiveness and efficiency."

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Earlier this year, HUD filed a complaint against the land commission with the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming the agency under Buckingham's predecessor, George P. Bush, discriminated against the city’s Black and Hispanic residents by creating an unfair competition for disaster relief funds after 2017's Hurricane Harvey. Buckingham has since called on federal law enforcement officials to reject the claim.

The laundry list of rules and hurdles that state and local agencies must meet to spend federal disaster relief funding has long been a source of criticism from contractors and officials alike.

In order to prevent against fraud, contractors must document debris as they collect it and then hire independent monitors to trail them to ensure only they are only picking up storm debris — not rubble from a construction site — all to be reviewed by FEMA officials before a check is written.

But the haste with which Musk and Trump are moving even has critics of the programs concerned. Ernie Abbott, a Washington lawyer who advises state and local government on disaster funding, said while FEMA was in need of an overhaul, such dramatic moves had the potential to slow federal response in the next hurricane.

"Frankly, it remains to be seen how deep these cuts are going to go, because we've never seen cuts at this speed," he said.