Mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are raising alarms among former agency heads and scientists, who warn the cuts could put lives at risk and hurt the U.S. economy.

About 10% of the NOAA workforce was laid off, according to some reports, in a move that could kneecap the agency's ability to forecast local and national weather events.

The cuts could affect more than 10% of the employees at the agency, according to two sources with internal knowledge of the agency.