© 2025 WEKU
NPR for North, Central and Eastern Kentucky
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Facebook Reconnects Tornado Victims With Photos

LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:

NPR's Zoe Chace looks at three of them.

ZOE CHACE: Here's the thing about your pictures on Facebook. They're usually recent from as long as Facebook's been around. And if there's a life-changing storm, your pictures are still on Facebook. But the photos from before Facebook are gone. Scattered all over the state.

MINDA ROBINSON: Minda Robinson and a picture was found at my husband's place of employment in Leesburg, Alabama.

MATTHEW HUBBARD: My name is Matthew Hubbard. I'm from Flatrock, Alabama.

JULIE JEAN: Julie Jean in Kelso, Tennessee.

CHACE: They all found pictures on the ground outside and each one looks like it was taken way before the internet.

ROBINSON: Every mother has a picture of her naked child in the bathtub, that is just like the classic mom's photo for when they get older to bribe them with. I mean that's just all there is to it.

HUBBARD: The photo is of a little boy. He is standing on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and he's happy and smiling, the sun's in his face.

JEAN: It had Hackleberry High at the bottom of it, dated 1949, and then on the back, her name was Dale Lolly(ph).

CHACE: They put the pictures up on Facebook and waited to hear. Matthew Hubbard got an email.

HUBBARD: Zoe Chace, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Zoe Chace explains the mysteries of the global economy for NPR's Planet Money. As a reporter for the team, Chace knows how to find compelling stories in unlikely places, including a lollipop factory in Ohio struggling to stay open, a pasta plant in Italy where everyone calls in sick, and a recording studio in New York mixing Rihanna's next hit.
WEKU depends on support from those who view and listen to our content. There's no paywall here. Please support WEKU with your donation.
Related Content