Scientists hope to mimic the most extreme hurricane conditions

The efforts need to reproduce the havoc wreaked by both wind and water

a wave flows into a parking lot with the Miami skyline in the background and palm trees face extreme wind

Extreme wind and water strikes Miami as Hurricane Irma makes landfall in the United States on September 10, 2017.

Warren Faidley/The Image Bank/Getty Images Plus

Winds howl at over 300 kilometers per hour, battering at a two-story wooden house and ripping its roof from its walls.