Hurricane Irene approaches the East Coast (NOAA/NASA GOES Project)

UPDATED: By late Friday, new evacuation orders covered a total of 370,000 people, up from 250,000 originally. The hurricane reached North Carolina beaches Friday evening as it begin its journey up the coast.

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered mandatory evacuations Friday afternoon of coastal areas in Queens, Staten Island, Battery Park City, Governor’s Island, the Rockaways and the Financial District in Lower Manhattan as Hurricane Irene continued to barrel toward the coast.

“We’ve never done a mandatory evacuation before and we wouldn’t be doing it now if we didn’t think the storm had the potential to be very serious,” Bloomberg said at a press conference. “We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

The areas must be evacuated by 5 p.m. Saturday, Bloomberg said. Irene is expected to reach New York by 2 p.m. Sunday. The evacuation areas cover 250,000 people. The New York Times reported 91 emergency facilities and shelters would open by 4 p.m. Friday.

Hurricane Irene was 300 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, N.C. at 11 a.m. (PDT) Friday, according to the National Weather Service. BBC reported mandatory evacuations have also been ordered in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Seven states have declared states of emergency: North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Reach executive producer Agnus-Dei Farrant here. Follow Agnus-Dei Farrant on Twitter.