Miami Beach offering free sandbags to residents preparing for Hurricane Irma

The city of Miami Beach is distributing free sandbags to residents this week as Hurricane Irma threatens to affect South Florida.

Officials will be handing out sandbags at 451 Dade Blvd. Residents must show ID and can receive 10 bags per family.

The city will continue to distribute sandbags from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. until supplies are gone or inclement weather forces the distribution to stop.

Multiple local government agencies are urging residents to take storm preparations seriously. Hurricane Irma strengthened Tuesday, becoming the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded outside the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean with sustained winds topping 180 mph.

In a tweet, officials advised residents to not dump large refuse until after the storm because scheduled debris pickup is full until Friday.

For more information on storm preparations, read the Miami Herald’s guide on everything you need to survive a storm.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Miami Beach offering free sandbags to residents preparing for Hurricane Irma."