Irene Was Near Miss For Southold's Hashamomuck Cove

If had been even slightly worse than it was, houses on the already storm-ravaged on Long Island Sound would be gone — so would a section of Route 48, said part-time Southold resident Lynn Laskos.

Laskos — who for years has been outspoken about getting federal, state and county officials to lobby for ways to from the wrath of Mother Nature — said that her home on the cove is still totally engulfed in water.

But it’s still standing. For now.

“The elevation is so low now that there is only about a foot left of the bulkhead — after that the houses and the road will be undermined,” Laskos said.

The Suffolk County Legislature voted in early May to appropriate $100,000 to plan and design protection for County Road 48 in the Hashamomuck Cove area. The initiative was spearheaded by Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine.

Over the past 20 years, Mother Nature has posed a significant threat to the Hashamomuck Cove shoreline and to County Road 48 — which has sparked concerns about difficulties for emergency vehicles and a lack of access to , among other things.

Laskos is head of the Hashamomuck Cove advocacy group and a member of SoutholdVoice, a local group of property owners and business people concerned about the shoreline. She estimated that if the eye of Irene had passed 100 miles to the east rather than 100 miles to the west, it would have definitely taken the county road out.

“But it was a peaceful storm surge,” she said. “If there were winds in it, it would have breached. We were lucky.”