The primary evacuation zone includes Battery Park City, Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Far Rockaway and Midland Beach and South Beach in Staten Island. See the zone in orange on this map.

The nursing home and hospital evacuations must begin by Friday morning and be complete by 8 p.m. There are five hospitals in the zone, Bloomberg said. Facilities may not have to evacuate if they have backup power or other reasons that may excuse them; those cases must be approved by state and city health officials.

Bloomberg said decisions about wider evacuations would be made by 8 a.m. Saturday. Some 250,000 people live in low-lying areas throughout the city.

(Source: NBC NY)