May Floods Prove Costly For City-Owned Vehicles

HOUSTON (AP) — A review finds nearly 100 city-owned vehicles in Houston were damaged or destroyed in the Memorial Day weekend storms and flooding.

KTRK-TV (http://abc13.co/1BjUHRJ ) reported Monday that the list includes police patrol cars, ambulances and firetrucks.

As many as 16 of those vehicles were flooded while parked at the Houston City Hall Annex garage. A worker apparently failed to deploy a flood gate in time to prevent water from gushing into the underground parking structure.

City Councilman Michal Kubosh (KOO'-bahsh) urged more diligence and says those parked vehicles should never have been damaged in the floods.

KTRK reports 37 Houston Fire Department vehicles were flooded or otherwise damaged, including ladder trucks, pumper trucks and ambulances. Houston police had 34 vehicles affected, mostly patrol cars.