Unfortunately at an environmentally sensitive place like Cape Canaveral this was just a matter of time. The below video from the University of Florida Geology Department lays out the grim news for all to see.

Among the findings were:

Dunes that historically protected Kennedy Space Center from high seas even during the worst storms were leveled during Tropical Storm Fay in 2008, Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. I can attest to this personally. I visited the Canaveral National Seashore two weeks before T.S. Fay hit the area in August 2008. My most recent visit a few months ago through the area yielded a completely different look. 

A stretch of beachfront railroad track built by NASA in the early 1960s that runs parallel to the shoreline has been topped by waves repeatedly during recent storms. Though idle now – one vulnerable section has even been removed to make room for protective manmade dunes the track serves as a useful yardstick for the Atlantic Ocean’s growing incursions. One 2010 NASA report predicts it will be permanently breached by 2016.

After Sandy, one washed-out section of shoreline was so close to a launch pad at adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that a fence surrounding the pad was left teetering and near collapse.

 Video below: