In the aftermath of Sunday’s deadly flooding in Connecticut, Randi Marcucio, whose home collapsed, received some heartwarming news that eased her despair. Sonograms of the single mom’s now-3-year-old son, which had washed away in the swollen brook next to her home in Oxford, were found some 30 miles away on a beach in Westport and returned to her on Wednesday.
“Honestly, it felt like holding a piece of my heart, a piece of my soul,” Marcucio, an emergency room nurse, said in a phone interview. “Seeing pictures of your child in your womb, and suffering such a great loss, there are no words. I don’t know how to describe it.”
Nancy Lewis, a stranger, discovered the sonograms while walking with a friend along Compo Beach in Westport on Monday. She noticed a photo in the water and upon retrieving it, saw the two sonograms on a single piece of paper with Marcucio’s name. Saddened by the news of Marcucio’s home collapsing, Lewis reached out to a local TV station, WVIT-TV, which facilitated a meeting between Lewis and Marcucio near the collapsed house to return the sonograms.
“I saw the devastation and read your story—a single mom, emergency room nurse,” Lewis told Marcucio. “I figured you were somebody who’s always caring for other people and I just wanted to see if there was anything that I could do for you, apart from this little sonogram that I found.”
Marcucio held the sonograms to her heart and expressed her gratitude. “That’s him. Thank you,” she said, embracing Lewis. “That’s incredible. What are the chances?”
Oxford, where Marcucio lives, is an inland town along the Housatonic River, about 20 miles north of its mouth at Long Island Sound between Stratford and Milford. The brook by Marcucio’s home flows into the Housatonic. When over a foot of rain fell on Sunday, the normally calm brook transformed into a torrent, eroding much of the land beneath her home. Her son, Rhylee, was safely with her parents at the time, while she stayed with neighbors. The house, which she had purchased two years ago on Mother’s Day, collapsed the next day, a moment captured on video by a neighbor.
Despite the catastrophe, Marcucio feels fortunate. The storm inflicted significant damage on nearby towns, destroying bridges, flooding homes and businesses, and necessitating numerous rescues. Tragically, two women died after being swept away by floodwaters in separate incidents in Oxford.
The outpouring of support from her community and beyond has been overwhelming. A GoFundMe page has raised about $157,000 for her and her son, and a developer has offered them a condo to stay in for a year. Additionally, donations of clothes and food have been abundant. Marcucio expressed her gratitude to the many people who have helped, including local construction workers and Oxford public works crews.
Marcucio spoke with an insurance adjuster and discovered that the destruction of her home is unlikely to be covered by her policy, as it was not located in a flood zone and she had not purchased flood insurance. The land her house stood on has mostly disappeared, making rebuilding seem improbable. With little time to contemplate the future, she remains in survival mode.
Among the few salvaged belongings were the sonograms, not stored in a box or plastic bag. She hadn’t anticipated the house collapsing and didn’t think she needed to remove important items, although she did manage to retrieve her son’s teddy bear the night before. Priceless mementos of her mother, who passed away when she was 12, are gone, including a hairbrush and a bottle of perfume.
“Unfortunately, there was loss of life in my community, so I cannot complain about the tangible items that were lost,” Marcucio said. “The support from the community is just moving me forward. I haven’t really had the processing time or the grieving time. It’s just really survival mode and things along those lines at this point.”
