Though last week's rains flooded hundreds of homes in southwest Houston and displaced scores of residents, city workers and facilities fared quite well - or they would have, if only someone had just shut that one gate.

In all, 28 police cars and 37 fire department vehicles were damaged, and six patrol cars were destroyed when rising waters consumed police barricades or when first responders put their equipment at risk during water rescues.

But 16 other city vehicles – including four Toyota Priuses, three Ford Escapes and five pickup trucks, along with piles of equipment – were wrecked all at once when an employee did not close the flood gate at the mouth of the City Hall Annex's underground parking garage.

"That was a big 'F' on the part of the person who made that decision for our parking garage," Mayor Annise Parker said. "They actually came out and inspected and made a judgment call, and they made the wrong judgment call."

Parker pointed the finger at Houston First Corp., the quasi-city agency that manages Houston's convention facilities and the downtown parking garages that serve them.

After Tropical Storm Allison, the city installed 22 flood gates in these garages, and drafted procedures that call for the gates to be closed when Buffalo Bayou reaches 25 feet, as reported by a National Weather Service flood gauge at Shepherd Drive.

At midnight on Tuesday, May 26, the bayou was at a depth of 15 feet, well below flood stage, but the water rose quickly – about an inch every minute.

No city workers were at the annex, only security contractors not trained to close the flood gate, said Rob Jackson, senior vice president of public policy for Houston First. That left one Houston First employee to check multiple garages and gates – some of which were properly closed that night, he noted.

The employee checked the annex gate at about 1:45 a.m., Jackson said, when the bayou was at 23.9 feet. It had stopped raining and the 25-foot mark had not been reached, so the worker continued his rounds, only to return at about 2:15 a.m. – when the bayou was at 26.5 feet – to find water rushing into the garage. At that point, Jackson said, the mechanism used to close the gate was submerged and the force of the water made trying to deploy the barrier too dangerous.

The flood gate policy is being reviewed, Jackson said, and could see the bayou water level trigger dropped and more staff added during storms. The policy could also explicitly state that workers have discretion in closing the gates.

Jackson stressed that the employee was following the flood gate policy as written.

"The policy's got a flaw, and we need to fix that. This was the first time that policy had been tested in a real-life situation," he said. "We're going to make whatever changes are necessary to keep this kind of thing from happening again."

Councilmember Michael Kubosh, who said he is awaiting more information, said it's nonetheless hard to see how someone could not be fired over the incident.

"It's ridiculous. I mean, we have a gate. You always err on the side of caution," he said. "Somebody is responsible for all this, a person. Look at the loss. It's just not acceptable."

Parker last week said, "I'm not going to create a firing squad today. We're still getting all the information." Parker spokeswoman Janice Evans reiterated that tone Tuesday, saying placing blame is "premature."

A full assessment of the damage will take about a week, Evans said, adding that items other than city cars were in the flooded garage, including two trailer-mounted generators, some handheld generators, a golf cart, sound equipment and special events items such as canopy frames and tent tops, as well as one private car.

Inside the City Hall Annex basement, which held roughly a foot of water, a copy services office remains closed, its equipment and supplies destroyed or damaged. Workers have torn out strips of drywall along the ground and ripped up the carpet from the basement conference room.

The water rendered elevators and escalators in the five-floor annex inoperable, though one elevator and the down escalator were broken months before the storm. As of Tuesday, two of the three previously working elevators had been fixed.

Who is liable?

Whatever the damages, Jackson said Houston First will cover the portion of the cost that insurance policies or federal disaster recovery reimbursements do not.

To that point, Councilman Larry Green questioned whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be inclined to chip in for costs that, in theory, were avoidable.

"We knew that potential issue was coming and chose not to …close the flood gates," Green said. "Would that be our liability for not making that happen?"

FEMA spokesman John Mills said the agency's guidelines for reimbursing governments give some leeway for mistakes made during emergencies.

"During the response efforts of a local government, it is possible that actions may be overlooked due to the greater impacts to a community," he wrote in an email, adding that FEMA will review each claim "on a case-by-case basis."

FEMA representatives visited the annex on Tuesday for an initial assessment, but made no decisions.