Rochelle Park's Knights of Columbus is Battle-Ready for Hurricane Season

The Knights of Columbus in Rochelle Park is located just 200 feet from a small brook that under ordinary circumstances poses no threat. However, 32 percent of Rochelle Park is in an area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Association as a flood zone. From 1998 through 2008, heavy rain storms and two major hurricanes had caused the small stream to rise nearly eight feet, repeatedly flooding the club’s lower floor with four feet of water.

Club management had tried to mitigate flooding with sandbags and plywood. Both methods failed. Twice during this period, the club lost its hall, bar and kitchen to storms at a cost of more than $250,000 in flood-related damages. Click here to see flood pictures.

Shortly after Hurricane Hanna flooded the club in 2008, Bill Coleman became president. A general contractor with more than 46 years of experience in construction, he made it a priority to research more effective flood protection solutions for the Knights.

The club purchased 60” panels from Flood Panel, an upstart company based in Florida. The solid, removable flood barrier system can withstand hurricane forces and impacts from floating debris, and is specifically engineered to the full height required. Coleman liked the product’s ease of installation and zero-tolerance flood protection guarantee. “I was impressed to find a quality product designed especially for these types of disasters.”

In addition to products and support, Flood Panel developed a Flood Emergency Response Plan for the club, which is a comprehensive step-by-step plan for flood emergencies, and is required by FEMA as part of any flood proofing process.

When Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast in 2011, the club was ready. Even though Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm when it made landfall in New Jersey, it still downed trees, caused power outages and major flooding across the state, and resulted in 10 deaths. At the club, the panels held back 48” of river water from entering the building, protecting the club’s lower hall, bar and kitchen, ultimately saving the club tens of thousands of dollars in storm damages.

Thanks to the sturdy flood protection system, today the Knights of Columbus is ready for whatever nature brings.

Coleman, who is president of Swift Track, Inc., was so impressed by the results that he became Flood Panel’s first New Jersey distributor through his new company Flood Protection New Jersey, Inc. Since then, Coleman has completed close to 100 Flood Panel projects in New Jersey and lower Manhattan ranging in cost from as little as $5,000 to $500,000. He has also worked with FEMA and the Office of Emergency Management in several municipalities in New Jersey that are prone to flooding.