She lost everything in a flood. Then a stranger showed up with an envelope.

Nancy Lewis was walking along the beach near her home in Westport, Connecticut, last month when she spotted two black-and-white photos floating in the water.

When she got closer, she realized they were sonogram photos of a fetus in the womb. The photos were dated June 9, 2020, and there was a name printed at the top: Randi Marcucio.

“I thought, ‘I’ll bet I can track this woman down and return these to her,’ ” said Lewis, 63.

When Lewis got home that afternoon, she searched for Marcucio’s name online and found an address for her in Oxford, Connecticut, about 35 miles away.

“I spent some time trying to find a way to leave her a message on social media, but nothing turned up,” she said. “So the next morning, I decided I would mail the sonograms to her.”

Lewis said she searched Marcucio’s name again to double-check her address and was shocked when a GoFundMe page popped up showing a photo of a collapsed house. She then realized how the sonograms had ended up in the Long Island Sound.

The fundraising post said that Marcucio, an emergency room nurse and a single mom, bought her first home about two years ago. The home was destroyed by catastrophic flooding on Aug. 19 – the same day that Lewis came across the photos.

Southwestern Connecticut and Long Island were hit hard by the storm, which inundated roads, stranded motorists and flooded hundreds of homes. Two people in Oxford were killed the day before when they were swept away in the floodwaters.

The heavy rain had turned a tiny creek next to Marcucio’s house into a raging river, and all of her possessions were washed away when the base of her home collapsed, tipping the house into the water. She was able to escape. Her now 3-year-old son, Rhylee, was safe, as he was spending the night with his grandparents.

The sonogram photos of Rhylee had blown away and traveled down the Housatonic River to Compo Beach in Westport.

“She was a nurse who had given so much to others, and as a mother, I wanted to return these images to her,” Lewis said.

She decided to go in person to return the photos rather than mail them, and a local news crew went along. A few days later, Lewis met Marcucio at the collapsed house, and Lewis pulled the photos from an envelope to show Marcucio what she’d found. In the news clip from NBC Connecticut, Lewis said she admired Marcucio because she’s a single mom and a nurse who is always caring for others.

Marcucio hugged Lewis and teared up when she saw the sonograms. They were the only possessions saved from the flood besides her son’s favorite teddy bear. She said she’d grabbed “Big Bear” for Rhylee before she ran from her home.

“It was hard to believe that I’m standing next to my house that’s no longer a home, and a lady walks up with a folder holding photos from my ultrasound,” Marcucio, 39, told the Washington Post.

“I was more than happy to do it,” Lewis said. “If I were to lose something important and somebody found it, I’d like to think they’d do the same for me.”

Marcucio said the unexpected gift helped her gain perspective on her situation.

“Rhylee and I had survived – we were still here, doing well,” she said. “I felt really grateful.”

Marcucio said the sonograms immediately took her back to the happy summer day when she saw the first images of her son.

“We’d chosen not to know whether we were having a boy or a girl,” she said, noting that she and Rhylee’s father are no longer together. “When I got home (with the sonograms), I put them in a box for safekeeping.”

She said she’d saved money for years to buy her first home, and she was thrilled when she learned a two-bedroom, two-bath with a sun deck was for sale in a woodsy area of Oxford.

“It had huge bay windows, vaulted ceilings and two fireplaces, and there was a little brook running nearby with a footbridge,” she said. “Two years ago on Mother’s Day, I bought it. It was perfect.”

On the day the storm hit, a Sunday, Marcucio was home alone.

“I noticed a lot of water was suddenly coming down the road, and the brook was really wide and high and fast,” she said. “A tree came down and took out the footbridge, and my son’s playscape and tent were washed away. By 7 that night, the basement started to go, and I knew I had to get out.”

The next morning, she returned to her property and watched in horror as her house collapsed into the raging floodwaters.

“It was devastating,” she said. “My very first house, the ideal place to raise my son, was gone. I didn’t have flood insurance because it wasn’t in a flood zone.”

Her community immediately stepped up to help: a property developer offered her and Rhylee the use of a free condo for one year, while others donated clothing, household items, furniture and toys. Friends started a GoFundMe account for Marcucio, raising more than $203,000 toward buying a new house.

“It was so touching to see strangers coming together to help however they could,” Marcucio said. “People have really rallied. They’ll be my friends for life.”

Lewis is among those with whom she intends to stay in touch.

“To get that sonogram back means the world to me,” Marcucio said. “In the midst of all this destruction, it was a welcome bright light.”