Metro

NYers fed up with flood-prone apts. below 23rd Street now want to move uptown due to Sandy

They’re movin’ on up — all because of Hurricane Sandy.

New Yorkers fed-up with their flood-prone apartments below 23rd Street now want to settle into uptown apartments, top brokers tell the Post.

“Sandy was a traumatic experience being downtown,” said Lisa Chirico, 36, a Steve Madden sales manager who wants to move out of the $1900 studio apartment on West 12th St that she’s lived in for five years because she’s scared of another storm.

“You’re fearing for your life because you don’t know if where you’re living will be standing in the next five years. They say downtown will probably get wiped out.”

Healthcare professional Shireen Imani, 32, is looking to ditch her $2,300 rent-controlled one bedroom on West 4th St for an uptown pad.

“I’m even starting to dress more uptown — I’m through with downtown after Sandy.”

Asset Manager Greg Sperrazza, 25, had no choice but to look for another place after his luxury condo on 2 Gold St in the Financial District flooded with 31 feet of salt water, destroying the furnaces and back up generators. He’s looking to buy uptown because he thinks investing in property downtown is risky.

“I love downtown but the area I lived in is ruined,” said Sperrazza, who camped uptown and is now in the market for an Upper East Side place. He visited a listing on East 72nd street last week.

“God forbid this happens again when I have a kid. You can’t hike up 25 flights of stairs with no power and a burning smell of gasoline with your wife and kids. It could easily happen again. It’s a big problem when you have a mortgage.”

And realtors are feeling the heat from desperate downtowners. Corcoran Vice President Victoria Terri-Cote said a recent open house for a one bedroom on sale for $869,000 on 71 East 77th Street drew in 15 people between the ages of 25 and 30 years old who after one week of crashing uptown decided it’s not that stuffy.

“We had a flood of people at this open house,” Terri-Cote said. “A lot of people were parents who said their kids stayed with them and suddenly thought uptown was cool.”

“Everyone wants to be South of 23rd street but I think Upper East Side, which used to be the ‘it’ neighborhood, is going to come back very strong to a younger generation.”

Terri-Cote’s partner salesperson Cristina Cote said she saw double the amount of buyers who viewed apartments uptown compared to downtown in the past week.

“I experienced a significant increase in our phone calls and e-mails from brokers and buyers wanting to take a look at our listings in the Upper East Side. Showings resumed very quickly uptown compared to in other areas.”