Hurricane Milton has strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane as it crosses the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. U-Haul's offering help before landfall.

Residents across Florida’s western coast are bracing for the impacts of Hurricane Milton, which has intensified to a Category 5 storm as it brews in the Gulf of Mexico.

U-Haul is offering Floridians 30 days of free storage services. The disaster relief program is meant to help residents prepare for Milton and support recovery efforts for Helene.

U-Haul is providing 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box portable container use across Florida as residents prepare for Hurricane Milton, a Category<a class="excerpt-read-more" href=" More

Milton remains on track to slam into the west coast of Florida early Thursday as a large and powerful hurricane, bringing a destructive storm surge, damaging winds and severe flooding to many of the same areas still reeling from Hurricane Helene’s devastating flooding and winds less than two weeks ago.

Tampa Bay hasn’t been in the direct path of a major hurricane in over a century, but Hurricane Milton may change that. Hurricane scientists say Tampa Bay is “the city to worry about most” due to high vulnerability to flooding from climate change.

The Category 5 Hurricane Milton was expected to grow larger on Tuesday as it threatened Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on its way to Florida, where more than a million people were ordered to evacuate from its path.

Video filmed Oct. 7 shows backed-up traffic on Interstate 75 outside the Tampa area as Florida residents began to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton.