I hit a pothole, tire is deflated and making a weird noise while I was driving home from work.?

I live in Gary, IN, which has a lot of potholes all over the place. Today I was driving to work, and I hit one pretty hard. When I got off of work, as I was driving, I noticed that my car was making a weird noise, and it was coming from the tire that had hit the pothole. As I drove further, the noise began to get louder, and it was even worse on the highway. When I arrived home, I checked the tire out and it was fully deflated. Could a pothole puncture a tire, or do any damage to the front-end. I just recently had the wheel bearings replaced on both sides of the car, and I do know that I am in serious need of some new tires. Additionally, shouldn't the city be responsible for damage caused to cars by potholes that should be taken care of?