Officials: Explosion at Astoria Con Ed plant

An explosion at an Astoria Con Edison substation knocked out power at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night, lit up the night sky for miles in any direction with flashes of brilliant blue and yellow light, and rattled New Yorkers across a wide area.

In tweets, the NYPD and Con Ed said they were responding to the explosion, which caused a brief fire at the plant at the corner of 20th Avenue and 31st Street.

Con Ed officials described what happened at the plant, which is just to the southwest of LaGuardia Airport.

"There was a brief electrical fire at our substation in Astoria which involved some electrical transformers and caused a transmission dip in the area," the tweet said. "We're currently investigating the cause of the incident."

Shortly after the explosion, multiple videos posted on Twitter showed the night sky in the area around the plant light up with blue and yellow flashes. Multiple television news reports said there were sporadic power outages.

In a tweet, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: "What we know: - Light was caused by electrical surge at a substation. - No current fire, no injuries. - MTA has power, but there are delays on the 7 train. - Power coming back on at LGA, but expect delays. - Con Ed evaluating outages now. More soon."

Port Authority advised travelers to allow for extra time because of the power outage at LaGuardia Airport.

In a tweet at about 10:30 p.m., airport officials reported partial flight operations. 

"Many flights are departing, some are not. Please check flight status with carrier," the tweet said.

Multiple television news reports said passengers on planes approaching the airport said LaGuardia Airport buildings were in the dark.

At 11 p.m., the airport said in a tweet that the power was "operational" at all terminals.

The NYPD advised residents to avoid the area of 20th Avenue and 31st Street where the power plant is located. 

"The lights you have seen throughout the city appear to have been from a transformer explosion at a Con Ed facility in Queens," the NYPD said in a tweet just before 10 p.m. Thursday. "The fire is under control, will update as more info becomes available." 

In a tweet, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said there were no injuries.

Check back for updates on this developing story.