FLORIDA — The Category 6 hurricane’s howling winds accelerate to a startling 200 mph in Miami, mercilessly pummeling a two-story wood-frame house until the roof tears off and the rattling windows explode. And a towering 20-foot storm surge spawns battering waves, swamping the structure and shoving it off its foundation like a doomed dollhouse. Sounds like a scene from a sci-fi disaster movie. But with real-world Atlantic hurricanes pushing the limits of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Florida International University (FIU) researchers envision a future mega-wind-water simulator that tests how building components would react under Cat 6 conditions. FIU’s Extreme Events Institute already operates the 157-mph Wall of Wind hurricane simulator, where experimental results have been applied to the Florida Building Code. Now, the school is spearheading a $12.8 million National Science Foundation partnership to design a larger national testing facility capable of generating 200 mph winds.