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Sorry but that reason for a change feels very coercive. If cat 5 is intended to be total destruction, meaning that anything above the lower bounds for a cat 5 is indistinguishable, there should be no 6.

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That's not what this is. (The person you're responding to didn't read the article.) They're not looking to add a "total-er destruction" category; they're looking to replace the current scale with one that takes into account more factors than just wind speed, such as storm surge and flooding. Under the current scale, a category 1 hurricane can be deadlier and more destructive than a higher-category hurricane. They want to use a different scale that better indicates the dangers. It goes up to 6 when multiple factors rate 5 on each factor's specific scale under the proposed system.

I think the title of this article is misleading and clickbaity. :/

Category 6 could also be useful in that it implies multiple threats to avoid.

Evacuation strategies for a cat 5 that’s just storm surge is very different than one that is wind and rain. Either way you lose the city, but with the latter, moving to high ground won’t save you.

Total destruction could be “total human-scale destruction”.

You could have “geological changes” above that; reroutes rivers, moves mountains, etc.

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