Two cats trapped inside an apartment near the site of a collapsed parking garage in Lower Manhattan have been rescued and reunited with their owner.
Zach Iscol, New York City’s emergency management commissioner, said “a number of cats” at 55 Ann Street, a building adjacent to the garage that collapsed on Tuesday, were rescued by Department of Buildings workers days later.
Sandy Imhoff, who has lived in the building since 1977, said she was reunited with her two feline roommates on Thursday.
“I personally didn’t think the cats were going to survive,” Imhoff said. The cats — Dave, 12 and Cathy, 14 — were found underneath Imhoff’s bed after an unsuccessful rescue attempt earlier in the week.
“I was just amazed that they did such a good job. They found them so fast,” she added.
The garage collapse killed longtime manager Willis Moore and injured five others. City officials are still investigating the cause and this week said extraction and demolition are going to take a while, in order to avoid further destruction to nearby buildings.
While that happens, nearby residents like Imhoff could be displaced indefinitely.
She said she was in the building at the time of the garage’s collapse and tried to take her cats with her as sounds of the crash became louder, but attempts to wrangle them were in vain. A neighbor helped Imhoff carry her 11 year-old-dog down the stairs.
Dave, left, and Cathy — two cats saved by DOB workers after the Lower Manhattan parking garage collapse
Like some of her neighbors, Imhoff’s building is under a full vacate order.
“Residents couldn't go into the building. The DOB staff went in, couldn't find the cats in the building at first,” Iscol said during a press briefing this week. But staffers went back on Thursday afternoon and found the missing cats under Imhoff’s bed.
“DOB does a lot,” Iscol said. “They do the engineering, they do a lot of the contracting oversight, they do the investigations. Also, pet rescue.”
The buildings department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iscol said that other people displaced by the collapse who are currently unable to get to their pets should reach out to NYPD community affairs officers on the scene. Depending on how safe the respective building is determined to be, residents may potentially be escorted to their homes or a staff member may be sent to retrieve their pets.
Cleanup continues
Iscol said that cleanup operations at the site of the collapse remain “incredibly complex” and “very, very dangerous.”
“We're not rushing through this cleanup,” Iscol said. “What I can say is safety right now is our number one priority. And we are working very hard right now to ensure the stability of the surrounding structures as we proceed with the demolition.”
Cleanup and demolition workers have secured a wall shared with the collapse site at 57 Ann Street and an adjoining building owned by Pace University.
In addition to guarding against the potential for further collapses nearby, the number of cars that need to be extracted has made the cleanup process more difficult.
“Those vehicles have gas, other fluids that can cause hazards,” Iscol said, adding the fire department has also urged city officials to exercise caution around extracting battery-powered electric vehicles.
This story has been updated with additional photos.
