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Nearby LaGuardia Airport grounded all flights for about 30 minutes in order to do an airport inspection, according to the FAA. An air traffic control tower at the airport was running on a generator as of late Thursday night and some terminals were without power, local and airline officials said.

\"Due to a power outage in Queens, there is partial flight operations @LGAairport,\" airport officials said in a tweet. \"Many flights are departing, some are not. Please check flight status with carrier.\"

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said crews were working to fully restore power \"as soon as possible,\" but he did not offer a timeline.

There was a brief electrical fire at our substation on 20th Avenue & 32nd Street in Astoria this evening, which caused a transmission dip in the area. All power lines serving the area are in service and the system is stable. Photo: Michael Friedl, New York Times pic.twitter.com/vq2Ao46rhk

— Con Edison (@ConEdison) December 28, 2018

\"There are no active fires and no significant loss of power except to LaGuardia airport where crews are working to restore full power to the airport as soon as possible,\" Cuomo said in a statement.

The blue flash could be seen from as far as Manhattan, across the East River from the airport, and some residents said it appeared to be daytime for a moment, according to multiple social media posts.

Any idea what’s going down in Queens right now? This has been lighting up the sky for the last 10 minutes. pic.twitter.com/QaFGZaMHnF

— Jake Mendel (@ijakemendel) December 28, 2018

Queens. pic.twitter.com/BWfucxjWXZ

— John Redcorn (@BrianFutura_) December 28, 2018

Anyone else see this alien invasion happening in Queens? #nyc #queens #lga #laguardia pic.twitter.com/Qjn8ra3Udr

— Keith Wan (@RealKeithWan) December 28, 2018

ABC News' Josh Hoyos and Matt Zarrell contributed to this report.

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