Miles from her collapsed home, flood victim’s sonograms of son found on Connecticut beach

Devastated after her residence collapsed within the aftermath of Sunday’s lethal flooding in Connecticut, Randi Marcucio obtained some excellent news this week that warmed her coronary heart and eased her despair.

Sonograms of the only mother’s now-3-year-old son that washed away within the swollen brook subsequent to her residence in Oxford have been discovered some 30 miles (48 kilometers) away on a seaside in Westport and returned to her Wednesday.

“Truthfully, it felt like holding a chunk of my coronary heart, a chunk of my soul,” Marcucio, an emergency room nurse, instructed The Related Press in a telephone interview Wednesday night. “Seeing photos of your little one in your womb, and struggling such an ideal loss, there are not any phrases. I don’t know the right way to describe it.”

A stranger, Nancy Lewis, was strolling with a buddy alongside Compo Seashore in Westport on Monday when she noticed what appeared like a photograph within the water. She picked it up and noticed there have been two sonograms on a single piece of paper with Marcucio’s title on it.

She appeared up the title and was heartbroken when she noticed information of of Marcucio’s residence collapsing. Lewis contacted WVIT-TV, which recorded Lewis assembly Marcucio close to the collapsed home to offer her the sonograms.

“I noticed the devastation and browse your story — a single mother, emergency room nurse,” Lewis instructed Marcucio. “I figured you have been any individual who’s at all times caring for different individuals and I simply wished to see if there was something that I might do for you, other than this little sonogram that I discovered.”

Marcucio appeared on the sonograms and held them to her coronary heart.

“That’s him. Thanks,” Marcucio mentioned earlier than hugging Lewis. “That’s unimaginable. What are the possibilities?”

Oxford is an inland city alongside the Housatonic River, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the place the river empties into Lengthy Island Sound between Stratford and Milford. It’s one other 15 miles (24 kilometers) west to Compo Seashore. The brook subsequent to Marcucio’s residence runs into the Housatonic.

When a foot or extra of rain fell Sunday, it turned the usually tranquil brook right into a raging river and washed away a very good chunk of the land below Marcucio’s residence. Her son, Rhylee, was staying along with her dad and mom on the time. Marcucio left her home and stayed the evening with neighbors.

The home she purchased two years in the past on Mom’s Day collapsed the subsequent day — a second caught on video by a neighbor when Marcucio wasn’t there.

She considers herself fortunate. The storm wreaked havoc on cities within the space, washing out bridges, flooding properties and companies and resulting in quite a few rescues. Two ladies died after being swept away by floodwaters elsewhere in Oxford in numerous incidents.

Marcucio has been overwhelmed by the help of so many individuals, on the town and across the nation. A GoFundMe web page has raised about $157,000 for her and her son. A developer is letting them keep in one among his condos for a 12 months. Donations of garments and meals have poured in. She mentioned she needs to thank so many individuals, together with native building firm staff and Oxford public works crews.

Marcucio mentioned she spoke with an insurance coverage adjuster, and it seems there’s little probability the destruction of her residence might be lined by her coverage. Her residence wasn’t in a flood zone and he or she didn’t have, or suppose she wanted, flood insurance coverage. A lot of the land her home sat on is gone, so she doesn’t suppose she will be able to rebuild. She hasn’t had a whole lot of time to consider the long run.

The sonograms weren’t boxed up or in a plastic bag. They’re among the many few belongings she was in a position to recoup. She didn’t suppose the home was going to break down and didn’t imagine she wanted to take away essential gadgets. However she did get her son’s teddy bear out the evening earlier than. Priceless mementos of her mom, who died when she was 12, are gone, together with a hairbrush and a bottle of fragrance.

“Sadly, there was lack of life in my neighborhood, so I can not complain concerning the tangible gadgets that have been misplaced,” she instructed the AP. “The help from the neighborhood is simply transferring me ahead. I haven’t actually had the processing time or the grieving time. It’s simply actually survival mode and issues alongside these traces at this level.”