In April, tornadoes ripped through the Southeast, flattening neighborhoods and killing almost 240 people in Alabama. A month later, a massive tornado packing 200+ mph winds killed 142 people and injured 900 others in Joplin, Mo.

...And large wildfires continue to blaze in Arizona, scorching hundreds of thousands of acres and devouring homes.

Those are just some of the disasters that have triggered responses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency this year - and hurricane season only arrived this month. Despite the frantic pace, FEMA officials say they are prepared for whatever blows ashore this summer.

"It's been very, very busy. We've definitely had the entire gamut," said Tony Russell, FEMA's Region VI administrator in Denton. "But I haven't seen any issues with us not being able to support our governors to the fullest." [ StarTelegram ]

FEMA has declared 45 major disasters this year and is assisting recovery for past disasters, including some of the 81 declared in 2010. This year, the agency also declared seven emergencies and awarded dozens of fire management assistance grants, including 33 in Texas.

The pace has raised worries that the agency will run out of relief money.

Congress appropriated $2.7 billion for the FEMA disaster relief fund in fiscal 2011, which ends Sep. 30. More than $4.5 million in unused funding was also made available, according to FEMA in Washington.

The fund now has about $2 billion remaining, officials said.

With $1.8 billion proposed for the fund in fiscal 2012, the Office of Management and Budget estimates that the fund could no longer be solvent by calendar year 2012, depending on weather activity.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., chairwoman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, lobbied in a letter to her Senate colleagues for additional funding and has pressed President Barack Obama for the same.

"Without this funding, FEMA will have to stop recovery efforts in 50 states in spring 2012," she wrote last month.

Denton a hub

About 400 FEMA workers are active in Region VI, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas, Russell said. The agency has more than 7,000 employees nationwide.

"The key is I can get more from other regions if the need arises," Russell said. "If we had an event where I thought we were overwhelmed, the entire FEMA workforce is interchangeable from the West Coast to the East Coast."

In an underground bunker in Denton, the activity level was "normal" last week in the Regional Response Coordination Center, a windowless room full of flat-screen televisions, computers, a phone bank and meeting tables.

In a disaster, the activity level can rise to Levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 1 is a Hurricane Katrina-type event with massive damage. Level 3 represents minor to average damage.

In May, the center rose to Level 2 -- moderate damage -- during tornadoes in Oklahoma, as well as tornadoes and flooding in Arkansas, said Stephanie Moffett, a FEMA regional spokeswoman.

Staff at the Denton office has more than doubled since 2005, when FEMA's response to Katrina drew searing criticism.

Preparedness is a never-ending job, officials said. In the command center on this day, a team of officials sat at a long table training for fire management assistance grants.

In an adjacent room, a group of emergency management officials from Region VI offered FEMA officials the local perspective on emergency response.

FEMA can provide services for temporary housing assistance, cleanup and rebuilding after disasters.

Busy year

Many area emergency response officials have had long years as well.

The ice story during Super Bowl week, as well as severe weather this spring, demanded that city and county emergency response centers activate repeatedly. Officials use the centers to coordinate agencies' response to emergencies.

In Grapevine, the center has already been activated 27 times, five more than in all of 2010, said Carrie Little, the city's emergency management coordinator, who attended the FEMA meeting.

Hurricanes are unlikely to cause great damage as far inland as North Texas, but cities must prepare for the possibility of evacuees flocking here from coastal cities, as they did for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. They must also be prepared for the potential for massive rainfall from remnants of storms that can produce major flooding.

Preparedness once was a seasonal activity that slowed down between "severe storm" and "hurricane" seasons, Little said.

"Now it's year-round planning for what could come next," Little said. "There is no time to sit back and rest anymore."

Past disasters

FEMA is still helping several communities in Texas complete recovery projects caused by past disasters, officials said. FEMA has committed $120 million to construction that will elevate out of flood range critical services at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The hospital had flood damage during Hurricane Ike.

FEMA will also spend $3 million to repair and flood-proof Galveston's hurricane-damaged lift stations, which pump wastewater to higher elevations.

"It takes time for these large, complex projects to work their way through the process," Russell said. "This is our chance to rebuild things and make sure whatever is rebuilt will be stronger and safer for the future."