The bizarre sight set off a frenzy on social media, where people reported a power failure at LaGuardia Airport. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said a ground stop was ordered there around 9:30 p.m. but was lifted after about 45 minutes; the airport resumed operations, he said.
After a stoppage because of the power failure, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a tweet that the No. 7 train had resumed making all stops, but it warned of “extensive delays.”
By about 10:13 p.m., Chief Terence Monahan of the New York Police Department said on Twitter that there were no injuries as a result of the explosion.
In a statement on Twitter, Con Edison said there had been “a brief electrical fire” at one of its substations, “which involved some electrical transformers and caused a transmission dip in the area.” Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blue light was caused by an electrical surge there.
Bill San Antonio, 28, was waiting to board a flight to Dallas when the power went out at LaGuardia. A blue light filled the sky outside the terminal.
“It was a weird shade of blue — a sort of unnatural, fluorescent shade of blue,” he said. Surrounded by other passengers, he made his way through darkened hallways until he found his way outside.
“There’s been confusion pretty much from the start,” San Antonio said, adding that the power seemed to be out inside the airport for about 20 minutes. After that, he returned to the security line but got a text message saying his flight had been canceled.
Residents milling about near the substation said they heard a boom and saw shades of blue and green filling the sky.
“We thought it was a UFO,” resident Yiota Androtsokis said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.