July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called on Wednesday for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be eliminated in its current form, even as the disaster-relief agency deployed specialists and supplies to Texas to help respond to devastating floods.

A month ago, the president said he planned to “wean” states off FEMA assistance. Now, the White House has adopted a different line on the agency's future.

Some governors and mayors are concerned over how current or potential cuts to agencies will impact how the government can respond in the future to major weather events.

FEMA officials are two months behind in posting grant application guidelines, which are expected to reflect President Trump’s demand for cooperation on his priorities.

On a FEMA color-coded hazard map, Alameda, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties are shaded dark red, indicating an area with nearly 4.7 million Californians that face the most dire risks of

California has increased its discretionary reserves as a direct consequence of Trump’s ongoing threats to FEMA.

Many states rely on the federal government for the vast majority of their emergency management funding. Now, local leaders are looking for clues about the money — and the future of FEMA itself.

As hurricane season bears down, a new layer of uncertainty is spreading through the disaster response system: a wall of silence from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that’s leaving officials from across the country scrambling for answers.

County emergency planners have taken notice. Contra Costa, for one, lacks the capacity to fill the federal funding gaps if FEMA follows through on proposed rollbacks, Kovar said.