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Flooded homeowners face foreclosure deluge

There could be a second flood hitting the shores of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. It’s not called Sandy II, but Foreclosure I.

As the flood waters receded in November, many banks trumpeted plans to assist homeowners by offering forbearance, suspending mortgage payments for 90 days.

Now the bill has come due and many homeowners are facing the same bankers looking for the back payments, while money from their insurance policies and FEMA is caught in a maze of red tape.

Laurie Nunziato will never forget wading through a knee-high flood to flee Superstorm Sandy with her family, as a storm surge claimed Staten Island’s Midland Beach.

Sump pumps at the ready, the family had attempted to ride out the storm in a desperate bid to protect their home.

Post-Sandy, owning that home has become a nightmare. The Nunziato family home, and another small property that generated rental income, were rendered uninhabitable, with repairs estimated at a combined $135,000. The family has relocated to a Brooklyn rental .

Now the $7,000 bill for delayed mortgage payments has come due — and the insurance company still hasn’t come through.

A New York State Department of Financial Services probe last week showed that banks have been holding up $200 million worth of insurance relief funds for 6,611 borrowers as of late January — because when a mortgage is involved, banks have to sign off on the funds.

Decrying the red tape, Gov. Cuomo called on banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get the money flowing to homeowners.

“It’s hard enough to have lost our house, but then trying to do the right thing [and getting nowhere] . . . frustrating is not the word,” said Laurie Nunziato, 36. “Some days I feel like walking away.”

Bank of America, which services their first mortgage, already has started moving ahead on pre-foreclosure actions.

Citibank, which services the second mortgage, granted a forbearance but started sending default notices.

The Nunziato’s home insurer, Liberty Mutual, released a small payment, but has repeatedly delayed the final settlement.

What’s more, the delayed insurance settlement renders the family ineligible for FEMA funds beyond $2,500 in rental assistance. That’s because the agency’s rules mandate that homeowners can apply only if they’ve been denied an insurance settlement or the payout doesn’t cover the costs of rebuilding.

Forbearance might sound like a generous gesture from the banks, but it is setting up homeowners like the Nunziatos to default on their loans — and setting up the city for another round of foreclosures, experts say.

Forbearance poses a problem because after 90 days the homeowner must repay the debt in full. Burdened by costs including rent, and caught in bureaucratic limbo, Sandy-ravaged homeowners are unlikely to have that kind of cash.

This ticking time bomb is about to go off. Mid-February is the due date for forbearance programs that began in mid-November, shortly after the storm.

Hundreds of homeowners are at risk in the outer boroughs. Legal Services offices in Queens and Staten Island have a storm-related caseload of 300-plus and growing.

Lawyers say the only real hope for homeowners is longer forbearance periods — up to 12 months — and a chance to tack on those payments to the end of the loan.

“It’s got to be put on the back end of the loan, or it’s just a default bomb waiting to happen,” said Joseph Sanders of Staten Island Legal Services.

At press time, the Nunziatos learned their Bank of America mortgage was being reviewed for a special forbearance designation.

A Citibank spokesperson said the bank reached out to the couple to discuss the second loan and that the default notices were mistakenly sent.

Liberty Mutual was unable to provide any information regarding the Nunziatos’ account.