As deadly twisters ripped through communities in the South on Wednesday, they sucked up and scattered possessions and collected memories.
Now, members of these tornado-ravaged communities are collecting the photos, documents and other personal items dropped by the cyclones and posting them on a Facebook lost-and-found page.
Created by Patty Bullion, a northern Alabama resident, the page has become home to more than 800 photographs of found items, some of them badly scarred from the vicious storms.
"When it [the storm] went over us, it literally just started raining pictures," Bullion told CNN. "We got parts of Bibles, hymnals. ... I just started saying, 'There are parts of people's lives falling out of the sky.'"
In the page's description, Bullion encourages people to post photos and descriptions of items found among the debris, along with contact information.
Bullion told the AFP on Friday that about 40 items had been returned so far.
While the page itself has garnered over 60,000 Likes, the page has become more than a lost-and-found box. Users are connecting with one another via photo comments and leaving inspiring messages in the wall posts. Some are even coordinating relief efforts.
"Some friends and I are looking to help out families in need in the Georgia area that was affected. Anyone have any idea where we could start? Any churches that have put together volunteer groups?" one user wrote on Saturday. Within minutes, another user posted a response with several suggestions.
“I feel like I know these people,” Bullion said of the lost photographs posted to her page. “They could so easily have been us.”
Visit the "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes" page to view some of the photos people have posted so far.