Floodwaters turned a modern cinema lobby into a shallow lake on the evening of November 8, 2024 — and stranded its smallest occupant on top of the concession counter.

Chest-mounted bodycam footage recorded at 19:52:16 shows a flood rescuer wading up to the dark concession stand of a severely flooded movie theater, where a tiny gray tabby kitten sits soaked on the wet metal counter. Beside the kitten lies a tipped red popcorn container, its contents spilled across the counter. Behind them, muddy floodwater covers the entire lobby floor, movie posters glow above the waterline, ticket kiosks stand half surrounded, and rain streaks the glass entrance doors.

The kitten, its striped fur clinging wetly to its small body and its round eyes wide, watches the rescuer approach. In the footage, both of the rescuer’s black-gloved hands extend slowly toward it across the counter. The kitten blinks, lifts its head, and cautiously sniffs the right glove before allowing itself to be touched.

The rescuer then slides both hands underneath the kitten, supporting its chest and hindquarters, and lifts it gently clear of the wet counter, its little paws curling as it rises. Held low and secure in both cupped hands just above the counter, the kitten lets out a small meow and gradually settles, looking calmer as the camera holds steady on it, the flooded lobby and floating cups still visible behind.

The rescue, captured in a single continuous bodycam shot, is one of countless small animal rescues carried out during the flooding, as response teams checked public buildings — including cinemas, shops and transport hubs — for stranded pets and wildlife sheltering on any raised surface they could find.

Officials remind residents evacuating flooded areas to take pets with them where possible, and to report stranded animals to local rescue teams rather than attempting to wade through floodwater themselves.