A hurricane watch is in effect for New York City and Long Island for Sunday, with storm conditions possible Saturday night.
Cuomo's office says major bridges in the city and lower Hudson Valley and the state Thruway will close if sustained wind speeds top 60 miles per hour.
As Hurricane Irene rumbles steadily closer the city, some evacuations have already begun, CBS News station WCBS-TV
reports.
Staten Island University Hospital and Coney Island Hospital have begun evacuating patients to vacant beds at medical centers on higher ground. NYU Hospitals Center and Veterans Administration Medical Center are the other hospitals in the evacuation zone, according to the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered some of those hospitals, nursing homes and senior centers in the most flood-prone areas of the city to be evacuated by 8 p.m. ET Friday.
If those facilities choose not to evacuate, they would need to coordinate their decisions in conjunction with city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, Bloomberg said.
At Staten Island University Hospital, the evacuation began Thursday night. The first ones out: Newborns in the neonatal unit, who were taken to Cohen Children's Hospital in Lake Success, Long Island,
the Staten Island Advance reported.
The Staten Island hospital was scheduled to begin the evacuation of its general population Friday morning. Patients will be discharged when possible or sent to a variety of other hospitals and nursing homes that are part of the North Shore-LIJ system. That includes hospitals in Manhassaet, Plainview, Syosset and Huntington on Long Island, the Advance reported.
"What we have to do is assume the worst, prepare for that, and hope for the best," Bloomberg said in statement to reporters Thursday evening.
