And in September 1976, a hurricane gusted to 76 mph at Yuma, Arizona. Linda had become the most powerful East Pacific hurricane in the history of weather records, big enough to cause many scientists to propose creating a new Category Six, for super hurricanes. A hurricane requires surface water temperatures of at least 79 degrees Fahrenheit to keep growing. Los Angeles' fate seemed sealed. I inspected the Homestead area of south Florida, along with National Hurricane Center specialists, after Hurricane Andrew smashed through in 1992, with winds of at least 140 mph, and gusts of 175 mph.
Many homes there are similar in construction to southern California homes.
Andrew destroyed or damaged virtually every building there, and his winds were weaker than those of Linda, his size was smaller, and his movement was faster. From my perspective, I can assure you Linda would have made the damage done by Andrew seem almost moderate. Most roofs cannot sustain continued winds in excess of 100 miles per hour. After the roof goes, the walls and rest of the house are blown apart like matchwood. Clearly Linda would have the exceeded in Los Angeles the 25 billion dollars of damage that Andrew caused in Florida.