Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered

by Kathleen Koch, Anderson Cooper

2011 Gold Award winner for Best Non-fiction in the Southeast Region from Independent Publishers and Honorable Mention for 2011 Book of the Year in the Regional Category from ForeWord Reviews.

Hurricane Katrina left Eddie Favre, the affable mayor of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, with nothing but the shirt and shorts he was wearing. State and local officials offered to send him pants, but Favre declined. ''Wearing long pants sends a signal that everything is okay,'' he insisted. ''And until such time as everything is okay here, I'll wear my shorts.''

Even George W. Bush took notice. ''I arrive here at this important school and he's got short pants on,'' the president remarked during a visit nearly five months after the storm. ''Eddie, I like a man who sticks to his guns.''

Those who read this moving story of the small town of Bay St. Louis and the Mississippi Gulf Coast will discover an entire region that did just that.

The 2005 hurricane season was the most devastating in history. People from the Bahamas to Mexico to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida suffered a record 15 hurricanes, four of which reached Category 5 strength.

Katrina was the costliest. Images from the Superdome and the rooftops of New Orleans are seared into the American consciousness.

But few realize the Mississippi Gulf Coast was where Katrina hit full force and where the destruction was worst. Entire towns were reduced to shoulder-high rubble by the winds and the unprecedented 30-foot storm surge.

Bay St. Louis was the former home of CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch. From her initial Katrina assignment in Alabama, Koch headed west in the storm's aftermath. The closer she got to her community, the more personal the story became. Old friends asked her to search for loved ones whose bodies would soon be found. She reported from the sites of once-beautiful homes--including her own--stripped to their concrete pads. Time and again, she heard residents pleas to spread the word about the dire needs on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Rising from Katrina is a story of the kindness of strangers, of minor miracles--and, above all, of how despite bureaucratic snarls and insurance battles a region rolled up its sleeves and rebuilt. It is also the story of a veteran reporter who, struggling to maintain her objectivity amid loss, traveled her own personal path from devastation to recovery.

Genres: Nonfiction

358 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Kathleen Koch is an award-winning broadcast journalist and former CNN correspondent based in Washington, DC. Her two documentaries on Bay St. Louis's recovery received a New York Festivals Gold Medal. She also shared in the Peabody Award CNN won for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She lives in Clarksville, MD. "

Reviews

[Zydny · Rating 5 out of 5]

August 29. Every year I confront again the feelings of grief, frustration, and rage as media outlets ignore my Mississippi.

Let me be very clear: Hurricane Katrina destroyed the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast; the disaster in New Orleans was a man-made issue. However, the news focus on that city instead of my state has lead to a lot of misunderstandings and pain.

So every August 29, I try to ignore the subject. But on this 10th anniversary, I could not. As I read news articles, I was amazed to read the words of someone who understood, someone who was sympathetic, someone who really knew the Mississippi Coast, someone whose name I actually knew: Kathleen Koch. I had been a guest at her Bay St. Louis home; I graduated high school with her sister.

I searched online and found a copy of Kathleen Koch's Rising from Katrina. Miraculously it arrived in the mail on August 29, just the day I needed it and I spent the anniversary reading that book. Finally I had a sense of relief, of validation. Someone had tried. Someone was still trying. Someone wanted the world to know about our Mississippi. I read, and I cried. I finally felt a bit better and less bitter.

Kathleen, I can't thank you enough. Thank you for your hard work and for words that speak the truth. Please keep telling the story about what happened here.

[Artie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned from this book is that what happens to you is less important than how you react to it, and that lesson has been infinitely helpful.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently had a visit to Bay Saint Louis Mississippi and heard many stories while we were there of Hurricane Katrina. We went to Ground Zero, the museum that showed through a video and pictures of what happened in their small town in 2005. It is hard to imagine going through something so devastating. The town has rebuilt but there are still signs of the terrible storm. The author of this book was raised here. She was a reporter for CNN and had moved to Washington DC. She returned shortly after the hurricane and reported on the devastation several times over the next few years. She talked to friends and old neighbors who lost everything! This was a very personal account and one that shows the resilience of this community.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

We have all seen the images of Katrina. Years later we still see images and our hearts are broken. But (besides actually being there) there is nothing like the spoken word. Reading a first hand account of what it was like to get there before, live during, and rebuild after.

Kathleen Koch paints a true to life picture of what residents had to endure and are still dealing with all these years after. If you thought you knew all there was to know about Katrina, you’re eyes will be newly opened while reading this book. From first hand accounts as to how long it took to receive help, to how quickly communities began helping each other regardless of past issues.

One thing I kept thinking about while reading this, was how emotionally tolling it must have been for Kathleen. She was there reporting on all this carnage not really being able to help in a large scale way, but only having to step back and report on it. I commend her on writing about it.

The story is a tough one to get through. There is no side-stepping or kid-glove treatment. It’s an honest account. The best there is.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt the author captured the sentiments and spirit of our state. I greatly appreciated that this book was about her view of Bay St. Louis and Waveland's experience of Katrina. I still get a little miffed when people only talk of New Orleans and forget that Mississippi was where the hurricane came ashore. In fact, Ms Koch says when the levees broke in New Orleans "at that moment Mississippi became a footnote. To the nation, Katrina would always be known as the hurricane that hit New Orleans." This book brought back memories of all those days of struggle looking for gas and water, living without power, and really being frustrated by not being able to get any news.

[Leslie McGimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, especially since I'm in the middle of my own personal angst in dealing with flooded properties in Wimberley this year, although no where near this scale of loss. It's a bizarre, war like ravaging these folks went through on a National Disaster level. I loved how the community as well as outsiders came together to rebuild and the determination of many to begin again. Made me wonder how I might have crumbled, or stood resolute, or simple moved away to try and forget about the chaos & rebuild my life somewhere else. Hmmm, still pondering....

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one that you will think about and remember long past finishing it. I didn't know anyone in Mississippi and I hadn't ever lived there and regret to say that I have never visited. However, the emotional impact of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina draws you into this heart-wrenching story about the residents of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I could barely tear myself away from reading this book. You will never think about hurricanes the same way. Written by Kathleen Koch, a former CNN correspondent, with a foreword by Anderson Cooper.

[Ginger]

Absolutely Captivating. Almost completely finished in one day. Kathleen did an excellent job of showing us what happened in the state(Mississippi) that was almost forgotten in the shadow of New Orleans when Katrina hit. I'm so glad my BFF shared this book and allowed me to read. I have now purchased a copy for a Christmas present for someone. Every emotion has been touched in reading this book.

[Elizabeth Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since moving to MS I have been interested in the damage that was done from Katrina. So much was publicized about New Orleans and not such reported about MS. This book reflected the destruction and the strength and tenacity of the MS people. Great read - very inspiring as a fellow Mississippian.

[Anne McGill]

Had family in BSL & Waveland before Katrina. There's enough distance now that I feel more comfortable reading about the storm & it's aftermath.