Zariah Coleman, 13, and her mom, Sheena, told city workers to check behind the toilet. Or underneath the chairs. Or in the closet.
But their gray-and-white cat, Issac, was not in any of his usual hiding spots.
It had been four days since the building next door to them, 1321 Flatbush Avenue, collapsed into a construction site, killing eight people and injuring 18. The collapse displaced many people on the block, including the Colemans, whose walls at 1323 Flatbush Avenue were sheared off.
Before the workers ended their search of the Colemans’ apartment on Sunday, they heard a soft meow coming from the kitchen.
So they checked a cabinet underneath the kitchen sink.
Zariah, waiting in front of the building, suddenly saw a stream of Department of Buildings workers and members of the mayor’s office emerge. They were smiling.
They brought Issac out in a cage.
“I was hugging the cage,” Zariah said. “My eyes started getting watery.”
She added, “I had it in my heart they would find Issac. I knew they would.”
Ms. Coleman was inside the apartment at the time of the neighboring building’s collapse, along with her 6-year-old son, Hakeem. Zariah was at the park. Issac slipped away during the loud noises and chaos.
For days, the Colemans clung to the possibility that Issac was hiding, scared and alone in their ruined apartment. During a Friday afternoon news conference with the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and city officials, Zariah broke down in tears.
“I just really hope they come and get our cat because he’s inside the house right now, and they said they went inside the house to try to find him, but I don’t think they really did,” she said. “He’s hiding from them, and I think he’s scared of them, and I just really want them to come and get our cat.”
On Sunday, Zariah said she felt heard.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in a Bluesky post, thanked the Department of Buildings; Flatbush Cats, a nonprofit group; and the mayor’s office of animal welfare for their efforts to reunite Zariah with her cat. “We’re grateful to everyone who helped bring them back together,” he wrote.
Before Issac was sent to a veterinarian, Zariah took a photo. She showed her mom the picture the second she got back to their temporary home, a hotel room in Brooklyn.
Ms. Coleman, 35, nearly let out a laugh when she heard where the cat was found. “He definitely knows how to open the cabinet with his paws,” she said.
Then Ms. Coleman and Zariah held an impromptu dance party.
Zariah had an urgent errand to attend to, though.
“I’m going to buy some tuna,” she said — for Issac’s homecoming.
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