Former CNN reporter Kathleen Koch and how the Gulf Coast has recovered from Hurricane Katrina

BILOXI, MS - If you really want to hear what it was like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, pick up "Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost it All and Found What Really Mattered." The book not only tells the tough stories of destruction and despair, but the hopeful ones, too. And it was written by someone who knows, Kathleen Koch, an award-winning journalist who worked for CNN and covered the storm in her Mississippi hometown.

Thursday on ABC2 News' Good Morning Maryland @ 9, Megan Pringle sat down with Kathleen Koch to talk about the book and her experiences of covering the historic storm, the aftermath, and the recovery. Kathleen talked about how the destruction was so severe for those on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that neighbors were getting lost in their own neighborhoods because all the landmarks were gone. She also talks about how the Mississippi part of the Hurricane Katrina story seems to be lost to the story of what happened in New Orleans, even though Mississippi took a more direct hit and had far more destruction - towns completely flattened.

To hear more of Kathleen Koch's accounts and experiences, click on the video box to the left of this article. You can also click on a link for more information to the left.